Operation Lazarus
by MissJayne
Summary: The team are sent on the adventure of their lives by a CIA agent with more than one hidden agenda. Death will visit, secrets will be revealed, lives will change. Some Jibbs. Lily! Rating to be safe.
1. Prologue

_Summary: The team are sent on the adventure of their lives by a CIA agent with more than one hidden agenda. Death will visit, secrets will be revealed, lives will change. Jibbs, Lily!_

_A/N 1: Just a little something I wrote in 3 weeks. I hope this answers a lot of questions I have previously posed, and sets a few more. I had this in my head while I was writing the others, and I hope I dropped lots of hints on the way. Enjoy!_

_A/N 2: Erm, please don't lynch me for this chapter. I swear on my own life that this story is Jibbs (and I love Jibbs). Unfortunately, I was sitting in an exam and had an evil idea. Just remember that nothing is as it seems, and the answers hopefully aren't as obvious as you may think._

_Spoilers: For my stories NonExistent Numbers, The Embassy Incident, and Death of a Sailor. It should be possible to read this without having read the others._

_Rated: T - to be on the safe side._

Operation Lazarus

Chapter 1: Prologue

Tony DiNozzo closed his phone and risked a glance at the redhead on the balcony. She was looking out over the city and seemed relaxed and calm, in complete contrast to his panic. He forced his fear down and checked his phone, as though it might have miraculously come to his aid in the last five seconds. He risked another glance; she was looking right at him.

She walked through the doorway and closed the glass doors behind her. She smiled at him, a smile that would not have looked out of place on his own face.

Tony had never thought that jeans and a shirt could be so sexy. A few buttons were undone, reminding him that she was off the clock, '_as if any of us have been off duty recently_,' he reflected. A loose tendril of hair was bothering him; he had to clench his hands to remind himself that she was off limits.

"Tony?" she inquired softly. "Is something wrong?"

It took him a moment to find his voice. "No, Jenny. Everything's fine."

She smiled again, a devastating smile that he was finding hard to resist. "So what's the problem?"

He forced himself to relax. "I'm just… you know… tired."

She walked closer to him, stopping barely a breath away from him. "I know the last few months have been tiring, but it'll be over soon. I promise."

He tried not to take a step back. Or kiss her. But she was inches away from him.

She closed the gap between them and kissed him. _Damn she was good. _He tangled his fingers in her hair, blindly trying to remove the pins. She was making short work of his shirt…

He pushed her away from him. "We can't do this," he told her, inwardly hoping that she would just give up, knowing that he wasn't strong enough to stop her.

Her response was to kiss him again, deeper this time. Longer. They pulled apart, both gasping for air.

She smiled yet again, and started to edge him backwards. By now, she had removed his shirt and he had almost repeated the favor. The back of his legs hit the bed and he fell backwards in surprise. She laughed, something he wished she would do more often. She seemed genuinely amused by his actions.

He reached up and pulled her onto his lap. She squealed and kissed him again.

He broke it off when they both needed air. "We shouldn't be doing this," he told her again.

"We're adults, Tony. We can do what we want."

His mind couldn't think of anything to say to that. He flipped her over and kissed her stomach. She giggled.

"You're ticklish," he noted, surprised.

"You didn't think I could be ticklish?" she asked.

"Well, no, but I couldn't imagine –"

He trailed off when he realized she was teasing him. "You…," he couldn't find the words. "You…" He kissed her lips to make up for it.

She deftly flipped him over.

"Hang on." That niggling feeling was back again. "Gibbs is going to kill me if he –"

"He's just…," she searched for the word, "overprotective. What he doesn't know won't kill him."

"He'll figure it out," he insisted.

"I'm not going to tell him." She kissed him; he pushed her back.

"I'm supposed to be protecting you."

"I'm a big girl," she replied.

He was out of words once more. And he guessed he was going to have a rather large love-bite on his neck if he didn't detach her.

She broke off and smiled at him again. "Handcuffs?"

"What?!"

"Is that going to be a problem?" she chuckled as she leant over to the bedside table and snagged his cuffs.

"Err, no, I can do handcuffs." He tried to flip her; she didn't shift. She attached one cuff to his wrist, threaded the other through the bars behind him and attached it to his other wrist. He fought down his initial terror.

"Never been cuffed before?" she grinned.

He tried his bonds. "I could get used to this," he admitted.

"Good." She kissed her way down to his belly button, making him squirm. "Someone else is ticklish," she teased.

He yelped as she bit his side.

She glared at him in response.

"Sorry," he offered.

She climbed off him and picked up his shirt. Using a knife she retrieved from its sheath at her ankle, she cut off a sleeve. She clambered back on top of him…

And gagged him.

She took the cases from the pillows and bound his feet to the bedposts. Then she sat back and admired her work.

"Tell Gibbs I said hi."

This time Tony didn't fight the panic. She was going to leave him here?!

She pulled her shirt back on, put her hair back up, touched up her make-up and stuck her feet in her heels. She kissed his forehead before walking to the balcony and opening the doors.

She _was_ going to leave him here! Tony started to struggle with his bonds, but she had done a good job.

She looked back over the city again. This time, she was going to end it. Even if it involved putting a bullet in his head.

She swung herself over the side, and shimmied down the drainpipe. He wasn't going to know what hit him.


	2. Bad Day at the Office

_Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! All will be explained later... Apologies for any mistakes; this is unbeta'd at the moment. I am triple checking it, but I do miss the most obvious things. _

_This chapter is for Mary, who requested that Agent Wofford got to 'kick ass'._

Chapter 2: Bad Day at the Office

_Six months previously._

Jennifer Shepard closed her eyes and leant back in her chair. She felt awful; her head felt like it was splitting open, her entire body felt drained of energy, and she was nauseous.

She had a mammoth pile of paperwork on her desk to be getting on with, a meeting with the SecNav later, and dinner with a Senator who flirted with her constantly. All she wanted to do was to curl up on the couch in her office and go to sleep for a few hours.

To top it off, it was only 0900.

She reminded herself that she couldn't be ill as she had far too much work to do. Maybe she'd caught the flu from her nephew Jasper. He had visited her for the weekend while he was recovering from it. Although the school had assured her that he wasn't infectious any more, they had presumably got it wrong.

Damn Lily for arranging for her son to come home for the weekend while she herself was away! The sisters were sharing an apartment until Jenny could summon up the strength to go house hunting, something that had been complicated when she had started seeing Jethro again. She wasn't sure whether to accept his offer and move in, or stay with her sister for a bit longer.

Lily had managed to make herself unreachable since their excursion in Kos. Jenny guessed she was undercover somewhere, doing whatever she did for the CIA. This seemed to involve guns, explosions and mind games; none of which Jenny cared about at that moment.

If Lily had been reachable, Jenny would have begged her sister to swap over. They were identical, although they hated the term, and had no problem swapping jobs for a week. Jethro was one of the few people who could tell them apart.

Jenny sighed inwardly. There was nothing for it; she was going to have to pay a visit to Ducky. Maybe he could give her something so she could get back to work.

* * *

The doors to Autopsy swished open, and Jenny lingered in the doorway. She still wasn't fond of the morgue; dead bodies being cut open weren't her thing and she couldn't understand how Jethro could be so nonchalant about it. She was feeling nauseous again.

Peering round the door, she could only see Palmer. No bodies were in sight, so she entered.

Palmer looked up from his x-ray and stared at her.

"Is Ducky around?" She didn't waste any time; she had too much work to do.

"He had to take his mother to the hospital this morning, something about another shaving accident." He shuddered.

She looked at him.

"Ah, is there anything I can help you with, Director?" He seemed to remember his manners after a moment.

She considered. Ducky was teaching his assistant to look after the living as well as the dead. Palmer might be of some use, if he could keep his mouth shut. She didn't want the entire agency to know that she was feeling under the weather within five minutes of her walking out.

"Director?" he asked again.

"I'm not feeling too good," she told him, moving towards Ducky's desk.

"What… what kind of symptoms have you had?" He switched to 'Doctor mode'.

"Fatigue, a bad headache and nausea."

He thought about it. "Could be a few things. I'll take a blood sample to narrow it down."

She watched as Palmer rooted through Ducky's desk to find the things he needed. "I spent the weekend with someone who was recovering from the flu," she offered.

"You've probably caught it then," he conceded.

She rolled up her sleeve and let him draw the required blood. He labeled it carefully.

"I'll send this up to Abby later," he informed her.

"I'll take it," she blurted out before she could stop herself. "I need to talk to her about the Raymond case anyway."

Palmer shrugged. "If you want." He handed her the vial.

As she reached the door, she turned back. "If I hear this being discussed…"

He gulped. "I won't say a word."

"Doctor patient confidentiality?"

"Oh, yes, that. I'll keep it."

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

* * *

The elevator doors opened again and she found herself outside Abby's lab. She could hear the music clearly from outside, and had no desire to enter. Glancing at the vial of her own blood in her hand, she forced herself to walk through the doors.

A wall of sound hit her. A gravelly voice was singing something about a chainsaw buffet, which just turned her stomach. Fighting down the nausea and the return of her headache, she stalked towards the CD player and switched it off.

"Hey!" Abby complained, whirled round to see who it was. "Oh, hey Director! How are things?"

"I'm not feeling too good." She was becoming fed up of repeating herself, so she offered the vial to the bubbly Goth. "Palmer said I might have the flu."

Abby's whole face lit up at the 'evidence' she was being given. "I can run lots of tests on this, Director." She ran over to a machine and started work immediately.

Jenny looked around. What should she do? Should she go back to her office and attempt some work? Or was it better to stay downstairs for the moment and take some time to talk to Abby?

Abby made the choice for her. "Sit down Director," she ordered, almost pushing her into the chair. "Rest for a minute. It's not good to be on your feet if you're ill. Gibbs would go mad at me. He might even stop my Caf-Pows!" She looked horrified at the thought.

Jenny wasn't surprised. Abby was extremely perceptive and would have picked up on the changes in her relationship with Jethro quickly. She found it amusing that Jethro might stop Abby's Caf-Pows, and wondered if she could persuade Lily to fund a Caf-Pow machine.

"Heard any good gossip lately?" Abby asked, perching on the edge of the table and staring intently at her.

"Not really," she confessed. "I've been pretty busy."

"Not to worry, I'll fill you in! Agent Wofford wrestled with a tiger yesterday."

Jenny was startled. "I didn't hear that."

"Oh, it was a guy in a tiger suit. Sorry, I thought you knew. This Lieutenant was moonlighting at the local mall, dressed in a tiger costume. He was doing drug deals and no one suspected the tiger. But Wofford spotted something and chased the guy for eleven blocks before tackling him. I managed to get the whole thing on CCTV. Wanna see?"

"Err, not right now."

"What else?" The Goth was unperturbed. "Agent Richards got engaged to some rich businessman. Not sure how _that_ happened. Ducky went on a date with Doctor Hampton, although he's trying to keep it quiet for now. And you and Gibbs have been messing around in your office." Abby smiled sweetly.

Jenny groaned.

"Don't worry, Director." Abby realized that the best time to tell her was probably not when she was unwell. "I was the only one lurking around that night, and I'm not going to tell anyone. Who would believe me?"

"Tony, for starters." Jenny smiled at Abby. "Sorry, I'm not the best company right now."

"Okay, we could talk cases. Or I could talk cases, and you could listen and ask me if I missed anything?"

"If you want." Jenny wondered if falling asleep in a subordinate's workplace was a bad thing. She was having problems keeping her eyes open. "How's the Raymond case going?"

Abby jumped up and keyed a command into her keyboard. The screen changed to show a fingerprint match. "I found Captain Mewburn's fingerprint at the crime scene. Agent Lee is trying to get a warrant to search his house, and Cassie Yates is ready to break the door down."

"Good work."

"It wasn't my work. Cassie found the print and I just ran it."

Something dinged in the background.

"My baby," yelled Abby as she ran over to it.

Jenny hid a smirk.

"I got your blood test results! Oh…"

"Oh, what, Abby?"

The Goth shifted nervously on her feet.

"What is it?"

Abby printed off the results and handed them to Jenny silently. All of her previous energy had vanished.

"Ah."

"Exactly," Abby agreed.

"But I can't… I mean I _can't_. How…"

"The results don't lie, Director."

Jenny considered. How was this possible? She was… or maybe she wasn't. Lily. This screamed of Lily. She was a conniving little pain in the backside at the best of times.

"Director?"

"If I give you a pill, can you tell me what it is?"

"Of course."

"How long would it take?"

"A few hours, perhaps."

"It isn't a rush job, Abby."

"I could get round to it in a few days, if you'd like."

Jenny rubbed her forehead. "Thank you."

"I'll keep quiet," Abby offered.

Jenny found herself in a bone-crushing hug a second later. "Thanks," she muttered.

Abby let go and smiled, happy again. "Everything's going to be fine," she announced.

Jenny smiled at the younger woman and left the lab. Standing in the elevator, she decided that she was going to kill her sister.


	3. Screw on the Skull

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen. Hopefully this chapter is less puzzling than the previous ones... More confusion to come!_

Chapter 3: Screw on the Skull

Tony DiNozzo tossed another paperclip in the direction of his partner, and immediately turned back to the open file in front of him. The muffled curse was music to his ears.

He was incredibly happy to be back in the United States. Two weeks ago, the team had been in Kos, and it had been horribly hot and humid. Tony had struggled with the heat, although he had enjoyed the local nightlife. He had run into Jasper again, a little boy who had been kidnapped previously and seemed to know Tony from somewhere. Try as he might, he couldn't recall having ever met the child before.

Now they were back, and he couldn't think of anywhere he'd rather be. He was sleeping in his own bed, drinking water straight out of the tap, and able to flush toilet paper down the toilet. Kos was a very strange place.

The Director was still up to something, something that he was scared of getting sucked into. So far, she had not asked him to help her, and he was hoping that it would stay that way. Her vendettas had a habit of becoming personal and he was not prepared to deal with another Jeanne situation again.

He hoped that Gibbs could exert some pressure on her. He hadn't failed to notice the looks that they were sharing when they thought no one was watching them. He made a mental reminder to never, ever date a redhead, before turning his mind back to his current position.

They might not have an active case, but sometimes that was a good thing. Especially as the computers were playing up. The Probie was busy trying to back up some files, but Ziva was tampering with her computer, plugging in wires and changing others around. And he had a good view of her –

"TONY!" she almost screamed at him.

"What, Zee-vah?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"If you throw one more thing at me, or stare at my butt for a second longer, I am going to come over there and rip out your eyes."

He wondered whether it were physically possible to do such a thing, but decided not to chance it. Ziva was a crazy ninja Mossad assassin after all.

"Earth to Tony," she called again.

"Is there anything to do in this place?"

"McGee has found himself some work." She stood up and dusted herself off.

"Yes, but he's a McGeek."

"Do you not have paperwork?"

He waved at the files in front of him. "It's a cold case. It'll keep."

She shot him a glare. "I was referring to the report you were supposed to hand Gibbs yesterday. The one on the Sutcliff case."

"I… might have mislaid it."

Ziva laughed. "You have not done it, have you?"

"It's not important. We don't have a case. I could do it now."

"So do it."

Tony DiNozzo wasn't one to back down from a challenge, particularly one set by Ms David. "Okay." He opened his desk drawer and fished around for it.

"It is not there?"

"Probie! Have you seen the Sutcliff file?"

McGee ignored him. He was too busy with his own computer.

"Probie! Probie-san! Oi, you!"

McGee continued to ignore him.

Tony turned back to Ziva. "I think he's still miffed about that trip to Asklepion."

Ziva thought for a moment. "Kos, that healing temple we visited."

"With the columns and arches."

"And the giant Lego piece in stone."

"The one that Probie saw."

They shared a smirk.

"I thought it was beautiful," Ziva admitted.

Tony stared at her.

"Just because I am Mossad, does not mean that I do not enjoy some things in life."

He continued to stare at her.

"Tony!"

He snapped out of his daze. "That was a nice day trip," he told her.

"I liked the snake you put in McGee's bag."

He grinned. "Probie didn't seem to like it. Did ya, Probie?"

McGee continued to ignore him.

"Do you remember the statues of the ancient Greeks?" he questioned Ziva.

"Oh, how could I forget? They were very able-bodied."

He opened his mental English-Ziva, Ziva-English dictionary and translated. "Fit. Personally, I thought they looked rather like me."

"You mean with a small –"

"No! I have the perfect body of the classic Greeks."

"Overweight with a cocktail belly?"

He reached for the dictionary again. "Beer belly, Zee-vah."

"You understood what I meant?"

"Only just."

"Then why do you bother to correct me?"

"To improve your English."

"Not because it makes you feel superior?"

He winced.

"I hit the screw on the skull."

"Nail on the head," McGee called out, without looking up from his computer screen.

"Thank you, McGee," she offered.

"Hey! You'll thank McGoo over there but not me?" Tony complained. This wasn't fair!

"He is being nice, my little hairy butt," she hit back.

"What are you doing anyway, Probie?" Tony asked. "Discovered the wonders of the Internet?"

Ziva and Tony shared a smirk.

* * *

'_If I were a bot, where would I hide?_'

Since Gibbs had warned that there was a bot monitoring all NCIS activity somewhere in the network, McGee had spent a lot of his time trying to find it. He had looked in all the obvious places that a bot would go. He had tried coaxing it out. He had even tried creating another bot to hunt it down and get rid of it.

Nothing seemed to be working. He hadn't found it, and he hadn't seen any proof that it was there. Gibbs would not have told him if he wasn't sure about it himself, but McGee was starting to doubt the information his boss had been given. It just wasn't there!

In desperation, he had decided to attempt to think like a bot. This thing was smart; it knew what they were doing and was taking steps to counter every move they made. So, where would he hide?

His conclusion was in some very rarely used files. In fact, it had unwittingly been DiNozzo who had given him his latest idea. The cold cases from years ago were finally being put onto the network. This would be the perfect place for a bot to hide; the files were fairly new, but weren't normally checked because no one tended to use them.

While Tony was trying to distract him, he was painstakingly checking every individual file that had been newly added to the cold case section. It was slow, complex work, but he was determined to locate the bot. It had to be somewhere!

* * *

Ziva David glanced up as Gibbs arrived back from a coffee run. Cold cases had a habit of making everyone slow down, and making Tony muck around more than usual. Oh well, until something more exciting came along, she would have to put up with it.

NCIS was a lot different to Mossad. In some ways, it was less exhilarating. She was not allowed to torture suspects or shoot people because they annoyed her. On the other hand, she had a strange family around her. She cared about the people that she worked with. She dealt with different things every day, and she enjoyed it.

Sometimes she wondered about the little things that Americans became concerned over. One memorable day, they had been tasked with locating a drunken sailor. It had been incredibly boring. They had checked every bar on base, and not found him. Tony had had the bright idea to check the bars within a mile of the main gate, and they had eventually found him. Ziva could not understand why they had not just waited for him to return, before shooting him.

"Listen up," Gibbs ordered, placing his coffee down on the desk.

They all turned to him. Whatever the boss said was always important.

"Go home."

Ziva looked at him in shock. Was this really Gibbs? Where was the usual grumpiness? She shifted slightly and took in her teammates faces. She had not imagined it then.

"Pack for one week."

That was more like it. A mission. Where were they going?

"I don't know where we're going, so pack a mix of things."

Even better. A surprise. She might need to pack a few extra things then, just to be on the safe side.

"Meet at Potomac Airfield at 1200."

Okay, that would not be a problem…

"Erm, boss," McGee piped up. "It's 0945."

Problem. This was going to be a problem.

"Gibbs, I have to drive home, pack, and drive to this airfield within 135 minutes?" she queried.

"Why are you wasting time complaining about it?" he growled.

She considered. If she raced flat out, she could do it. Just. Tony and McGee were busy trying to do the math too.

McGee nodded his head before racing out of the squad room. Presumably, he thought he could make it.

Tony decided to try his luck. "Boss, I could definitely do it if you gave us an extra hour."

Gibbs glared at him. "The plane departs at 1200, DiNozzo. If you aren't on it, you'll have to grow wings!"

Tony made up his mind and followed McGee towards the elevators.

"Gibbs –"

"Don't start too, David," he warned.

"It is not that," she quickly informed him. "What is going on?"

"Damned if I know," he muttered, before picking up his coffee and heading towards the Director's office.


	4. Lily's Orders

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen. Tiva in the last chapter, Jibbs in this; I'm so wonderful (for the moment...)._

Chapter 4: Lily's Orders

Jenny leant back in her chair. Two minutes ago, in Abby's lab, she had been feeling nauseous. Now she was starving. Cynthia had not been at her desk when she had swept in a moment ago, so sending her for food was out. Did she have anything stashed in the drawers of her own desk?

Making a mental note to force Lily to wait on her hand and foot, she searched through the drawers. A half eaten chocolate bar was the only edible substance present. She wasn't going to argue with it. She threw the empty wrapper into the bin and looked back at the piles of paperwork.

Deciding that they weren't going to sort themselves out, she started organizing. Case reports that needed her signature, letters that required replies, personnel evaluation reports that needed to be filed… where was Lily when you wanted her?

Locating her reading glasses, she opened the first case report and started to read. Her headache flared up instantly. She rubbed her forehead and began to think of extremely painful things she could do to her sister. Lily was not going to live this one down…

The door to her office was flung open and she jumped. For a brief second she hoped it was Lily, although she normally knew whenever they were in the same building. Instead, it was Jethro.

Not the first person she wanted to see right now.

He was looking at her curiously. He might have burst through the door, but he seemed to have lost his momentum.

"You okay, Jen?" he asked.

"I've been better," she admitted.

He studied her carefully. "We have a problem."

* * *

Gibbs was worried; she really didn't look well. Part of him wanted to take her home and fuss over her, while another part reminded him that she would probably kill him if he suggested it. And on top of that…

Lily. It always seemed to come down to Lily. She was certainly up to something this time, but he hadn't a clue what it was. Taking Jenny with him would give them an edge, something he would need. Going head to head with Lily required everything you could get your hands on.

He wondered whether he should try calling the CIA and asking them to control their agent. He didn't think it would get very far. Lily was one of their best, and they knew it. They weren't about to rein her in without a very good reason.

He could think of a few off the top of his head. Faking the death of the Director of an armed federal agency, posing as said Director on rather a lot of occasions, setting off an explosion at the Nepalese Embassy that very nearly destroyed it completely, several murder counts, a possible kidnapping one, hundreds of counts of theft… and all in the last year. These were only the ones he knew about; he suspected she had done a lot more.

Whatever she was up to, it was serious business. And now they were about to get sucked in.

"Lily called," he told her.

She looked pleased. Hidden in her eyes, he could catch a glimpse of anger as well. "Is she okay? She isn't in hospital, is she? Oh no, I don't think I could do another hospital visit. I don't like seeing her so lifeless. She hasn't called me, and I haven't heard from her –"

He cut her off before she could go any further. "She's fine." Her rambling was something he expected from Abby. Could Lily be right? _How_ could she be right? He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and examined her again.

She looked shattered. He hoped that some of that was due to his actions last night, but whatever was ailing her was obviously taking up her energy. He moved behind the desk and rubbed her shoulders softly. She sighed appreciatively.

"What's going on then?" she mumbled. Clearly, she was enjoying the massage.

"Lily wants you, me, and my team as soon as possible."

Her eyes closed, she tried to work it out. "What would she want us all for?"

"I haven't a clue," he confessed. "Knowing her, it's going to be one of those madcap adventures again."

Jenny smiled. "A chance to get out of the office for a bit."

"And here I thought you left the field behind?" he teased.

"Hundred bucks says there's going to be an explosion."

"Two hundred for a car bomb," he countered.

"Three for a drive by shooting."

"Four says there's going to be a sniper involved somehow."

They grinned at each other. Whatever Lily was up to, it was going to be good fun.

"Did she tell you anything else? Like where we're going? Or when?" Jenny inquired.

"She's arranged a plane for 1200. Potomac Airport."

"1200. Midday. Midday?!"

* * *

Jenny felt the panic begin to rise. Midday? That was two hours away! She would have to go home, pack and get to the airfield in that time. And she had to arrange for someone to cover for her.

How was she supposed to arrange all this? If she had a few days, it wouldn't be a problem. But a few hours? When she had other things to sort out as well? She felt exhausted anyway. Maybe she could sleep on the plane. At least Jethro would be going with her.

Actually, this could be used to her advantage. She would have the opportunity to see her sister and deal with her latest game. She could rest and regain her energy. She could spend some time with Jethro.

"Did you point out that she could have given us more time?" she queried. Lily had never quite understood time management.

"I asked her for more time, and she said that it was an emergency and unless 'the other side' gave us more time, we'd have to make do."

Jenny considered. Emergency wasn't a phrase that Lily threw around lightly. In fact, she hardly ever used it. The last thing that she had termed an emergency had been their father's death, thirteen years ago, and only then because Jenny had been on vacation and needed to return rapidly.

So what could it be? Why hadn't she called directly, instead of calling Jethro? Lily might pretend that she wasn't fond of him, but in reality, Lily would take a bullet for him. Why call him instead of her?

Perhaps it was because Jenny always knew when her sister was lying, and vice versa. But why would she lie about an emergency and race everyone out… where?

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"She didn't say much, and certainly didn't bother to tell me that."

Great. "She just told you to go to the airfield?"

"And bring the team and you."

Even better. "So you don't know where I should be packing _for_? Somewhere warm, somewhere cold, somewhere sunny, somewhere snowy?"

"Emergency tends to mean emergency. Maybe she didn't have the clearance to tell us."

"Her clearance is higher than mine!" she protested. "Surely she could give you a clue, at least?"

"I didn't hear anything remotely resembling a clue."

Perfect. She had two hours to sort out the agency, pack with no idea of where she was headed, and get to the airfield. Someone needed to invent a teleport.

Why would Lily not give him _any_ information? What could be so important, so secret, so urgent, that all she could say was 'come here quick'?

"I'm ready to go," Gibbs offered. "I can live out the bag in the trunk of my car for a week without a problem. I'll drive you home, help you pack, and get you to the airport in plenty of time."

It was a good offer, but involved sitting in a car and being subjected to Jethro's driving. Her nausea leapt up again. Could she manage it? He was being very considerate and she was extremely grateful for it. But she still needed to arrange for someone to cover her.

"I'll ask Agent Wofford if she'll cover for you again. She did it while we were in Kos," he reminded her, as if he'd read her mind.

Only one person was allowed to read her mind, and it wasn't Jethro. Fighting down the urge to shoot him, she found herself nodding.

"Okay," she conceded. She presumed it was because of the time constraints. "I'll leave her a quick note if you find her."

He kissed her forehead gently, and walked towards the door. "Everything's going to be okay," he promised. "What could go wrong?"

She smiled as he left her office. Considering Lily was involved, rather a lot could, and was going to, go wrong.

All she had to do now was get everything ready in time. She ran though a list of things she needed to pack, and things she'd need to ask Cynthia to sort out. Tomorrow's meeting with Condi would have to be postponed.

She would need a lot more than two hours to mentally prepare herself for this.


	5. Airplane!

_Thanks to my beta reader Kristen. I promise that Lily will arrive soon. I hope you all enjoy her entrance..._

Chapter 5: Airplane!

Somehow, Gibbs and Jenny were the first to arrive at the airfield. They'd made good time, especially considering that Jenny had needed to make arrangements for the agency on top of everything else. Even so, they had arrived with twenty minutes to spare. Jenny was resisting the urge to throw up, while Gibbs was being overly solicitous.

Ziva arrived next. She kept an emergency bag packed near to her front door, and was used to throwing things in a bag and hopping on the next transport anyway. Knowing that Potomac Airfield was private, she had added a few extra guns to her luggage. She had driven like a madwoman through the streets in order to not be late.

To everyone's surprise, McGee had then arrived. Gibbs had privately thought that Tim would be the last to show up, particularly because he tended to drive carefully. McGee had stuffed a few changes of clothes into the first bag he could lay his hands on, and run out the door. He'd called his sister in the car, and asked her to water his plants every few days. He had also taken the opportunity to pick up his notebook that contained his next story ideas. If they ended up on a stakeout, he could jot down some thoughts.

With five minutes left, DiNozzo had turned up. He slung his bag over his shoulder and raced for the plane. He had packed and unpacked his bag several times, having no idea where they were going and what he needed. Eventually he had glanced at the clock and realized that he was going to miss the plane. He had ended up just grabbing the bag and running, having no recollection of what he had packed.

He stared at the plane ahead of him. This was serious. How many people would send a Gulfstream to pick them up?

Gibbs appeared in the doorway. "DiNozzo! Up here now!" he ordered.

Tony scampered up the steps and entered the plane. He walked down the aisle to the cabin. Seeing his teammates, he grinned. He dropped his bag onto the floor and looked around.

There were ten chairs, which all looked very comfortable. The first four chairs had two tables between them, separated by the aisle. The next two chairs had little individual tables. The last four were bunched together around a single table. At the rear of the cabin, two couches faced each other. He could see a door at the end, with presumably led to the bathroom. The aisle was wide and the ceiling was high.

Ziva and McGee were seated in the final four chairs, facing each other. Jenny was lying down on one of the couches, her eyes closed. Gibbs moved behind him.

"Sit," he demanded.

Tony collapsed in the seat next to Ziva, while Gibbs sat on the couch opposite Jenny. He glanced over at McGee to see his mouth hanging open.

"Don't look so amazed, McIdiot," he quipped. "You see me every day."

"Do you know what this is?" McGee asked, with a tone of reverence.

"It's a Gulfstream. Never been on one before?"

"It's a Gulfstream G650."

"The Probie likes his planes then."

McGee stared at his teammates. "You've never heard of it?"

Ziva thought for a moment. "I do not think so."

"It's not even in production yet! It certainly isn't certified. The maiden flight isn't supposed to be until the second half of 2009!"

Tony and Ziva shared a look.

"Seriously?" Tony questioned.

"So how are we in a plane that doesn't exist?!" McGee pointed out.

"Ask no questions and you'll be told no lies." Jenny's voice came from the couch.

They all turned towards her. Jenny's eyes were still closed, and she didn't look well.

"What do you mean?" Ziva queried.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth," she advised them.

The agents exchanged looks. What was going on?

* * *

A few minutes later, the pilot appeared in the doorway to the cabin. "Good afternoon," he greeted them.

Gibbs gave him the once over. He seemed okay. He wondered whether the CIA flew their own planes, or whether they hired outsiders. He wanted to know where Lily had managed to obtain the plane, especially if it wasn't supposed to be flying yet.

"We've got a flight of approximately eight hours ahead of us."

Eight hours. That could mean the West Coast, or Europe, or Central America. He crossed off the West Coast; Lily wasn't meant to operate in the States. Europe or Central America then.

"Where are we going?" Tony piped up.

"London," came the reply.

London. Not London. He liked the place, but Lily had soured his memories of it. Getting interrogated by your lover's over-protective, homicidal twin sister would put a damper on anywhere. And she was going to be around again this time too.

"Cool," Tony grinned. "Never been to London."

"You have never been to London?" Ziva questioned.

"You've been everywhere," Tony shot back.

Gibbs ignored their bickering. "Why are we going to London?"

"Don't know, sir," the pilot answered. "I was just told to fly you there."

Fat chance of that. Gibbs would have happily put money on the CIA agent, who was masquerading as a pilot, to know exactly why they were travelling to London. It didn't help that he had been called 'sir' either.

Jenny, her eyes still closed, put a warning hand on his arm. He decided not to blow up at the pilot, and focused on her.

He knew she disliked plane journeys, even now when she had to make quite a lot. Being told that the plane hadn't officially made its maiden flight probably wasn't helping her. He moved to the other couch, lifted up her feet and sat down. He would have preferred to be nearer to her head, but his team would start asking awkward questions.

"London?" he whispered to her.

"She could be there," she whispered back.

"Could or is?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Why would she pick London? What are we expected to do there?"

"I'd guess that she doesn't have a choice on our destination, and I have no idea why she needs us. I'm more concerned about why she asked for you."

He stroked her leg softly. "I can understand her asking for you, but not for me and the team."

"We'll find out when we get there."

* * *

Jenny gripped Gibbs' hand tightly as the plane took off. When the pilot told them that they could undo their seatbelts, she had disappeared into the bathroom for a while.

By the time she returned, Tony had opened the mini-bar. She wasn't particularly surprised. Gibbs accepted a bourbon, Ziva had flat-out refused a drink, and Tony and McGee had chosen to have a Scotch each.

Jenny still felt terrible. She wondered if she could have a nap on one of the couches. Gibbs had bought a newspaper on the way to the airfield and was busy attempting the crossword. Tony, Ziva and McGee were having an animated discussion on the best places to visit in London. Perhaps she could close her eyes for five minutes…

* * *

Ziva glanced across at the Director. She was fast asleep on her couch. The Israeli hid a smile; Jenny had looked exhausted earlier and clearly needed the rest.

Tony and McGee had been raiding the mini-bar for hours. McGee, who didn't hold his liquor well, had fallen asleep and was going to have a serious hangover for a while. Tony was half-drunk, and was trying to sing some of the worst love songs that Ziva had ever heard. The only thing stopping her from snapping his neck like a twig was the thought that she might wake Jenny.

Although, if Jenny could sleep through the appalling crooning, surely she could sleep through a murder.

Ziva had refused the offer of a drink because she wanted to be prepared. Not knowing what was going on, why they had been requested, or what they needed to do, she had chosen to remain alert and awake until ordered otherwise.

She had been quietly observing her boss and Jenny for a while. Something had changed between them. Tony seemed to have noticed it, as had Abby. She had warned her friend about it, but Jenny appeared to have disregarded it. They were certainly keeping it low key for now.

Ziva looked around the plane, admiring the interior. She had to confess that it was very nice. She was used to traveling on anything available, but she could get used to this. Why had it come to pick them up though? How had anyone got hold of a plane like this? Should they be flying it with no certification? She wasn't too worried about the last one. Evidently, it was safe enough to carry them somewhere urgently, or something else would have been sent in its place.

The pilot announced over the intercom that they were coming in to land. Ziva started to rouse McGee before they arrived in London.


	6. Biggin Hill

_Thanks to the wonderful Kristen! I confess that I wrote this a while ago, and I've just realized how slow this part is... I promise the pace will pick up soon!_

Chapter 6: Biggin Hill

Jenny clutched Gibbs' hand as the plane landed. She was fine with the flying bit, just not the takeoff and landing. Glancing out the window, she reminded herself that it was 0100 local time.

She was going to be so jetlagged.

Gibbs' team busied themselves with locating their bags and making their way to the front of the plane. Only Ziva seemed to be okay. Tony looked half-drunk, and McGee was semi-awake and appeared to have a hangover.

Jethro squeezed her hand to remind her to let go. He picked up both their bags and helped her out of her seat. She was a bit unsteady after the long trip, and leant on him as they left the plane.

The chill hit her as she reached the tarmac. A tall man was waiting for them. He did a quick head count before guiding them towards the nearest building.

The building turned out to contain the customs desk. The man produced some documents from inside his jacket and showed them to the guard on duty, who waved them through. It appeared as though Lily had called in a few favors.

The man led them through the building to the exit. The place was deserted. Jenny wanted to see someone, simply to reassure her that people still existed.

"You ever going to say anything?" Tony asked the man.

"Welcome to London," the man said. He had an American accent. "We're currently at Biggin Hill. There's a car out the front to take you to your hotel."

"You're not very friendly," Tony told him, clearly still under the influence of his alcohol.

"You want my advice? Be glad when it isn't raining."

After a few minutes, they reached a door. The man opened it and led them outside. He pointed at a limo parked by the curb.

"Get in. A car will pick you up at your hotel tomorrow at 8 o'clock. It'll take you to the briefing. Don't be late." He disappeared into the shadows.

'_Very cloak and dagger_,' Jenny mused. '_Tell us almost nothing and vanish as fast as possible.'_

Gibbs' team seemed a bit bemused by the turn of events. Neither she nor Gibbs were surprised. If Lily were behind this, she'd only get the best for Jenny.

Jenny climbed into the limo first, while Gibbs ordered his team to get in. The ride to the hotel was strange. The driver had left the partition down, presumably to keep an eye on them and report back to his masters. He refused to speak a word though.

Jenny's first thought was that they had sent a mute to pick them up deliberately. The CIA didn't want them to know anything unnecessary, and weren't giving them the chance to find out anything. After a while, she had realized that she had seen the driver before, at a social event with Lily. He had been singing at the top of his lungs at the time – the CIA Christmas party had a tendency to get horribly out of control every year – which meant that he was under orders not to talk.

As if this surreal experience couldn't get any worse.

She was surprised when the limo pulled up out a hotel less than thirty minutes later. Gibbs got out first and offered her a hand, which she gladly took. Fatigue was threatening to overwhelm her again.

* * *

Gibbs watched his lover carefully as he guided her out of the limo. She was still tired, even after all the sleep she had had on the plane.

He glared at his team as they clambered from the limo. Tony appeared to be sobering up, McGee was out of it, and only Ziva was alert. He decided that the next time Lily got them a private plane, he would confiscate the alcohol.

The driver drove off as they stood on the street outside the hotel. Not good. Was _this_ their hotel? Did they have reservations?

What was he thinking? Of course Lily had sorted out reservations. He glanced up at the hotel again.

The hotel was in the middle of a row of buildings. They were all painted white, and were four storeys high. The windows were spaced apart, and wide. Gibbs thought he could probably climb in and out of one easily. The whole thing looked as though it had been picked up from the Middle East and dropped into London.

Gibbs led his team and Jenny into the reception. A very bored-looking lady sat at the front desk. From the pink hair, he guessed she was a student. She was flicking her hair and shouting to someone in another room.

"Yeah, and he said that I was an idiot, so I told him to shut his mouth or I'd sock him one, and the lazy sod just called me a cow, so I threw the remote at his fat noggin and he started screaming about how he was gonna sue me for it –"

She noticed Gibbs standing in front of her and stopped her tirade. "Good evening, how can I help you?" she asked.

Gibbs thought before he opened his mouth. In all probability, Lily had made the reservation. There was only one name she would have put it under…

"Rooms for Shepard," he told her.

She turned to her computer and hit a few keys. "You've got three, all next to each other. I'll get your cards." She vanished into the room behind her.

"Cards?" Gibbs wondered aloud.

"Key cards," Jenny answered.

A young man stuck his head around the door where the woman had disappeared into. "Hey, it's good to see you again," he smiled at Jenny, walking out to greet her.

Gibbs knew that Jenny was completely used to it by now. "It's good to see you again too," she told him, having never set eyes on him before in her life.

"You come for your key cards?"

"Yes."

"I say," he suddenly noticed. "You look really tired. I'll see if I can help Angie find them." He rushed back into the room and Gibbs could hear him barking orders.

"You have been here before?" Ziva muttered to Jenny.

"Not me," she hissed back.

Ziva stayed quiet. She had run into Lily on a few occasions and couldn't even begin to tell the sisters apart. The thought amused Gibbs; it was obvious to him which one was which.

Angie returned with three cards and handed them to Gibbs. "Top floor, stairs are over there." She pointed. "Down the hall to your left."

Gibbs nodded his thanks and followed her directions. Less than a minute later, they were all gathered outside the doors.

"Tony, McGee, you'll be sharing the room here." He indicated the one on the right. "Ziva and Jen, you can have the one in the middle." The women nodded. "I'll have the end one. Any objections?"

Everyone stayed silent.

"Breakfast seems to be served downstairs. Be there for 0730 at the latest. I don't want to find out what happens if we miss our ride."

Everyone scattered. Jenny moved to go with Ziva; Gibbs let her. She needed her sleep tonight, and Ziva could watch her back for now.

* * *

Jenny couldn't sleep.

She wasn't sure whether it was due to the fact she had slept for most of the journey, or because she was now jetlagged.

Or because she was going to see Lily later.

Ziva was snoring in the other bed. After checking the room carefully, the Israeli had fallen into her bed, still fully dressed, and gone straight to sleep. Jenny had rung the front desk and asked for a seven o'clock wake up call, but had been unable to fall asleep.

Her thoughts turned to her sister. Lily was in London, of that she was sure. Although she probably wouldn't be present at the briefing in a few hours, Jenny was sure she would catch up with her at some point.

She wondered about what Abby had told her. This would change everything. Lily had managed to put the cat among the pigeons, and Jethro was going to go crazy when he found out.

Whether it would be aimed at her or Lily, she had yet to figure out.

Whatever happened, when she got her hands on Lily later, it was not going to end well. Lily had pulled all kinds of stunts on her before, which were usually followed by a brief murmur of apology. Jenny accepted them, purely because she couldn't stay mad at her for long. This particular one, however, was not going to be solved with a simple request for forgiveness.

She tried to work out what her father would do if he were alive. He had always had a soft spot for Lily. He had encouraged her mind games and almost pushed her into the CIA. He had had high hopes for each of his daughters, and she felt that they had done him proud.

So why did she feel as though she had let him down?


	7. Trouble One

_Thanks to Kristen! Two quick notes: I've never been inside MI6 before so everything inside has been invented, and my grandfather calls me Trouble One..._

Chapter 7: Trouble One…

Ziva David woke up at 0700. She was awake a full ten seconds before the phone rang. Snatching it up, she told the front desk that she was awake. Her internal alarm clock was all she had needed.

She glanced over at the other bed and was amused to discover that Jenny was asleep. After all the sleep she had had on the journey, she was still tired. Unfortunately, she needed to get up. Ziva did the math. If she showered and then woke her friend up, they would still have time.

Five minutes later, Ziva walked out of the bathroom while drying her hair with a towel. Jenny was still dead to the world. Smiling, she reached over and shook the older woman gently.

Jenny mumbled something incomprehensible.

Ziva shook her a bit harder. "Jenny, you really need to get up."

The redhead cracked open one eye. "Go away," she ordered, before falling asleep again.

The Israeli decided to let Gibbs deal with her. She headed for the door and opened it. Gibbs was standing directly outside, his hand raised to knock.

Ziva chose not to question it. "She will not get up," she told him.

He nodded. "Go down to breakfast, I'll deal with her."

She sidled out of the room, closing the door behind her. She quickly made her way down the stairs, the elevator being out of order, and found the breakfast room. Tony and McGee were already sitting at a table, so she picked up some toast and joined them.

"Good morning," she smiled, dropping into the chair next to McGee.

Tony looked at her blankly. "How is this _good_?"

She decided that he was badly hung-over and turned to McGee. "I'm so tired," he complained.

Great. One team member hung-over, one jetlagged, and one refusing to get out of bed. This was not going to be a good day.

* * *

McGee climbed warily out of the car, followed by Tony and Ziva.

The car had appeared on time; Gibbs and the Director had not. Gibbs had told them that she was feeling unwell, and he would remain with her. No one was prepared to argue with his decision. They had sat in silence on the last part of their journey. Finally, they were to learn why they had traveled so far.

McGee felt exhausted. He always seemed to suffer badly with jetlag, ever since he was young. He was finding it difficult to understand why they were needed urgently. It had to be urgent, or that plane wouldn't have picked them up. And it must be important because everything had been dealt with.

But why would they want him? There were better computer programmers out there. Why ask for the rest of the team? There must be others closer to home. Why ask for the Director? That request had him stumped.

London. He had always wanted to visit England, but life had conspired to keep him away from it. Now he was here, he hoped that he could spend a few hours playing tourist before he had to work. He doubted it would happen though. No one would arrange their arrival and then allow them to have a few hours off. Even if by some miracle they did, Gibbs would find something for them to do instead.

He was frustrated that Gibbs had allowed the Director to sleep in. On top of that, he was staying with her. Someone had gone to great lengths to get them here, and Gibbs was sitting in a hotel room. It wasn't the Director's fault if she was ill, but she didn't need her hand held.

He stared at the building in front of him. On either side of him, he could feel Tony and Ziva doing the same thing. He had never been there before, but he knew what it looked like.

MI6 headquarters.

It stood on the banks of the Thames river. It looked, Tim thought, majestic.

It explained why they had had such an easy passage. But what would MI6 want with NCIS? One was the bottom of the armed federal food chain, while the other was a powerful intelligence service that worked in dozens of countries worldwide.

Ziva snapped out of her daze first. She led them towards the entrance up ahead. McGee wondered if she had ever visited the place before, but decided not to ask. He wanted to survive.

As they entered, McGee noticed the tall man from the airfield that morning. Ziva spotted him too, as she made her way over to him. He did another mental head count, and seemed puzzled.

"Good morning," he drawled. "Where are the others?"

"Director Shepard is ill," Ziva informed him. "Agent Gibbs stayed behind to protect her."

He rolled his eyes. "Perfect. If you could put these on?" He held out ID badges.

Everyone took their own and fastened it to their jackets.

"I also need your cell phones," he told them.

The team fished out their phones and handed them over. McGee was not happy to see them placed into a plastic bag and sealed in.

"Don't worry, you'll get them back later," the tall man smiled. "The Brits are a bit fussy about security, but we'd have taken them off you before you entered the briefing room anyway."

"What's going on?" Tony asked.

The man snorted. "I'm in the dark as much as you are. I'm Agent Baker, by the way. CIA. Follow me, and I'll take you to someone who can answer all your questions."

The team shared looks, before following the agent through the corridors.

* * *

Tony's head hurt. He had already decided that this was Ziva's fault. She should have stopped him from drinking so much on the plane.

He was hopelessly lost. Agent Baker had been leading them for what felt like hours, but was probably only about ten minutes. The whole building was like a rabbit warren, but he seemed to know his way about. He wondered if the CIA regularly spent time at MI6. He guessed there might be a few joint ops every now and then. Presumably, this was one of them.

They finally came to a door with two armed men outside. Agent Baker reached for a clipboard on a nearby table and thrust it in their general direction.

"Take a form, read it, sign it."

Tony glanced at it. From what he could tell, it was a non-disclosure agreement. He was not allowed to repeat anything he heard in the next room, and was to deny all knowledge of the forthcoming meeting.

Someone was taking this seriously.

He scrawled his signature at the bottom and handed the form back. The Probie and Ziva followed moments later.

Agent Baker nodded at them. "And here I leave you again." Tony was shocked. "I have to be somewhere else. I hope your day goes well." He walked off, rounded a corner and vanished.

The team entered the room.

It was a large briefing room, with plenty of seats. Lots of people were inside. Ziva nudged him gently and pointed towards one crowd. "Mossad," she told him. "And my father."

Tony was surprised. What was the Director of Mossad doing here?

He could hear the other group talking amongst themselves. From the accents, he guessed they were MI6.

As they reached the far side of the room, they spotted a small table with a laptop on it. The rest of the table was covered in maps and files. The two people standing next to it were familiar.

The Director. And her brother, Charlie.

What were they doing here? Wasn't Charlie an artist? The Director was supposed to be ill!

They were talking in hushed voices to each other; the redhead gesturing at one of the maps. Charlie was fiddling with the laptop, as though he was trying to make something work.

The Director looked up, spotted them, and clapped her hands together.

"We're ready to start," she announced. "If you could all take a seat."

Tony sat down in the nearest seat. It was in roughly the middle of the room. Ziva and McGee sat down next to him. Mossad sat on one side of the room, while the MI6 agents picked the other. There were a few empty seats in the middle, but overall, the seating capacity had been remarkably well judged.

The Director remained standing as Charlie drew up a chair next to the laptop. She looked well, certainly not as ill as Gibbs had claimed she was earlier.

"Good morning, everybody," she greeted the assembled agents.

The last few murmurings died down and everyone focused on the redhead.

"I hope you all had a good journey here. I am aware that some of you have traveled a lot further than others to be here today, and it is appreciated."

Her green eyes twinkled towards the NCIS agents at the front.

"I'm sure you don't want me to keep you waiting any longer –"

The door at the back crashed open. Everyone spun around…

The Director of NCIS stormed up to her twin and slapped her across the face.


	8. And Trouble Two

_Yet more thanks to Kristen! And my grandfather calls my younger brother Trouble Two..._

_Erm, so I'm going away for a few days and won't be able to update. Crazy-Prune asked/begged for a double post, and I've agreed to post one chapter tonight and another tomorrow. Unfortunately you'll then have to wait until Sunday for the next one._

Chapter 8: And Trouble Two

_The Director of NCIS stormed up to her twin and slapped her across the face._

* * *

Jenny was fuming. "How _dare_ you? How could you?"

His sister seemed more amused than anything. "You finally figured it out? Took you long enough."

"I am FED UP with your games."

They glared at each other, unconsciously mirroring the other's pose. Silence fell.

* * *

Gibbs slipped into a seat behind his team. "Briefing started yet?" he asked, completely unconcerned by the silent argument taking place in front of him.

"There's… there are _two_ of them," Tony stuttered.

"And?"

Tony realized with a jolt that Gibbs knew.

"Did she start the briefing?" he repeated.

Ziva decided to answer. "She was about to, but her sister came in."

Tony turned to Ziva. "You knew?"

"I have met Lily before, for a short time," she replied.

Director David joined in the conversation. "Then you know which one is which?"

"No. I am unable to tell them apart."

"Lily was here first," Gibbs supplied. "Jenny slapped Lily."

The Director of Mossad switched his attention to Gibbs. "You can tell them apart?" he asked.

Gibbs gave him a stare.

David decided to deal with someone he could control. "Ziva, why did you not report this?"

"Aba, I could not prove that she existed. I have run into her twice, each for less than five minutes. I have been trying to trace her since, but have been unable to find anything."

Director David turned back towards the sisters. "There are two of them," he noted, a slight hint of amazement in his voice.

* * *

Gibbs continued to watch the silent argument. He suspected that Jenny was currently winning, mainly because she was so angry.

Jenny had only got out of bed when her cell phone rang. After Abby had disconnected, Jenny had been fuming. At first, Gibbs couldn't tell where her anger was directed, but when she insisted on going to the briefing, he had an idea.

Lily had done something incredibly rash. Again.

The pieces were starting to fall into place. If Lily was right, which on reflection she probably was, it stood to reason that she was playing a very dangerous game. One that Jenny had only just cottoned onto.

A game which Lily might not survive to see to the end.

Jenny had guessed the briefing place, and Gibbs had privately agreed with her. If there were more than a few agents involved and they were in the United Kingdom, MI6 would be included. One incredibly boring taxi ride later, Jenny had managed to get them waved through every security checkpoint. It was a great, big, neon flashing sign saying 'Lily is here'.

They had bumped into the tall man from the airfield earlier that morning. He had merely raised an eyebrow, before guiding them to the briefing room in silence. After signing non-disclosure agreements, Jenny had burst through the door, ready to confront her sister.

"When is this briefing going to recommence?" muttered a voice.

Gibbs spun to his left and spotted an MI6 agent looking like a sullen schoolchild. "I'd stay out of the argument," he advised.

"They're not arguing; they're staring at each other!" the other man objected.

Gibbs sighed. "I'd prefer them staying silent to them screaming at each other. I'm not planning to referee a fight."

The MI6 agent looked interested. "They fight?"

"You want a hint? You see how furious they are with each other? Do you want their fury turned towards you?" He shuddered as he recalled what happened the last time they had done that to him. "The only time I ever went to see the shrink."

"You've actually been to the shrink, boss?" Tony interjected.

Gibbs glared at his senior field agent. "Once. I'm never interrupting an argument between them again. I'd like to live a few more years, in as little pain as possible."

* * *

Tony looked at the two sisters again. They really were identical. Somehow, they were wearing the same black pants with the same deep blue shirt. They had the same watch around the same wrist, and they had pulled their hair back into the same bun. They wore the same pair of impossibly high black stilettos, which even had the same scratch on the same side.

How on earth could Gibbs tell them apart?

The same fire burned in the same eyes. Their hands were on their hips, in exactly the same place. The same earrings dangled from their ears, and they had the same necklace around their necks.

How was _he_ supposed to tell them apart?

He wondered how alike they were personality-wise. Jenny was always in control, business-like and focused. Was her sister the same? Ziva had called her 'Lily'. He doubted she was NCIS, or someone would have figured it out earlier. The only other possibility was CIA, where Agent Baker had said he was from.

Jenny and Lily. Lily and Jenny. Similar names. They had to be twins; there was no other option. He wondered which one was older. Gibbs would know; Gibbs knew everything. He was about to ask his boss when he realized that it probably wasn't his best idea.

Gibbs knew that Jenny was a twin. Gibbs knew better than to cross them. Gibbs could tell them apart.

Gibbs knew more than he was letting on.

Rule four. The best way to keep a secret: keep it to yourself. Second best: tell one other person – if you must. There is no third best.

So what else was Gibbs hiding?

And how well did this newcomer know the rules?

* * *

Lily withheld her laughter. If she laughed, Jenny would laugh, and the whole situation would veer rapidly out of control.

As though it wasn't out of control already.

When Jenny had first started at NCIS, they had made a pact to keep the other's existence quiet. They had run the odd joint mission together and fed each other relevant information, but today was the first time they had been seen together properly.

In front of MI6 and Mossad, of all people.

Oh well. Lily could think of worse times for their secret to come out. At least now, it wouldn't throw anyone in the middle of a firefight.

She resisted the urge to glance over at Charlie and LJ. Charlie would have stayed focused on the laptop, double and triple checking the upcoming briefing notes and images. He had never met Jenny before, but Lily had taught him to stay professional. If you let the situation overwhelm you, you were no longer in control. If you weren't in control, you weren't likely to live.

She could hear LJ talking, presumably explaining a few things to everyone else. He had certainly not been surprised at their argument. He even knew what it was about, but he hadn't told Jenny yet. Maybe she should correct that…

Her eyes hadn't left Jenny's, and they were still arguing silently. Jenny wanted an apology and there was no way in Hell she was going to give one, not when she didn't know the whole truth. Her sister didn't need to know everything just yet.

Perhaps soon, but not yet.

She suspected that this would end in its usual way. They would let a coin flip decide who was to apologize. Jenny always chose heads and she always chose tails. It would have to wait for a while; there was work to be done first.

For now, she was content to argue. Jenny was throwing the book at her and she didn't care in the slightest. They had always been able to talk without needing to resort to words. It also made card games more interesting. She wondered if they could exploit that before this operation was over. They could win a lot of money before LJ warned everyone.

She presumed that they would need to find a lot of ways to entertain themselves. She could see long, caffeine-fueled stakeouts in their near future, and wasn't sure whether she was looking forward to them or not. It would depend, she decided, on who she was with. She wanted to get to know LJ's team better, without them thinking she was Jenny.

Finally, Jenny bowed her head slightly, signaling that it was over. Lily nodded and gestured towards an empty seat next to LJ, which her sister gladly took. Lily guessed that Jenny was feeling tired again.

"JL," Lily almost sang.

"What?" her sister queried.

"I thought you might like to know that LJ has known for seventeen days."

She grinned at the fleeting look of panic that crossed his face. He hadn't expected her to do that. Jenny gave him a quick glare, before settling down.

Lily turned to address everyone. "Sorry about that," she offered. "Minor disagreement. So, welcome to London."

She checked that everyone was paying attention to her now she was continuing.

"MI6 and Mossad can send one agent each to assist, and that is all I will offer you. I'm going to read you in to Operation Lazarus."


	9. Operation Lazarus

_Thanks to Kristen! This is the last chapter for this week, as I won't be able to update while I'm away. This also means that I won't be able to answer all my reviews until I get back, but I will get round to them as soon as I get online! Promise!_

_Lots of answers in this one for you to chew over. I hope this keeps everyone happy until I return. Pity I couldn't have left it on a cliffhanger..._

Chapter 9: Operation Lazarus

"Operation Lazarus has been in existence for six years. It is above top-secret and is strictly need to know. Before today, only five people inside the CIA were read in, including Agent Ellis and myself."

Lily indicated Charlie, who was busy with the laptop still.

"To truly understand the operation, I need to take you back thirteen years. A United States Army Colonel, Jasper Shepard, was under investigation for taking a bribe. However, that is only the official story. In reality, he was under investigation by the CIA after a biological weapon design disappeared."

She could see that Jenny had reacted to this news. Lily knew better than to offer comfort right now; it was only going to get worse.

"I was already CIA by this point. My boss told me what was going on; he wanted to know whether I knew anything. I went home to confront my father, who denied everything. Two days later, he committed suicide.

"However, eight years ago, I began to suspect that something was amiss. The official reports revealed nothing, but I heard a rumor that my father was still alive. Naturally, I followed every lead into the ground. I found nothing. Until one day, six years ago, I literally ran into him."

Jenny looked simultaneously shocked and homicidal. Lily fully expected another argument later, but hoped her sister would hear her out for now.

She recalled the day she had found her father. She had been in Cairo on urgent CIA business when she had received a phone call informing her that her partner was dead. The news had scared her; Edwards had been her mentor. He had been missing for several weeks, believed to have been kidnapped by al-Qaeda.

She had been required to formally identify his body. Staring at the torture marks – the bruises, cuts, dried blood, burns from both electricity and cigarettes, ligature markings, knife wounds, his severed tongue – she had been terrified. She knew that someone had sold information on him, and it was now up to her to plug that leak. What she didn't know was whether information had been sold on her; whether she could continue to operate in Cairo or whether she needed to run.

In a daze, she had left the hospital and wandered the streets. She needed coffee. One cup of coffee and everything could be okay. She would call her boss, give him the bad news, and carry on. She had to carry on. His death would not be in vain.

She spotted a small café halfway down a side street, and turned to enter it. She went crashing into someone. Her hand snaked towards her gun, determined to use it if she was in danger.

She froze, hardly believing her eyes. Jasper Shepard stood in front of her.

Lily forced herself back to the present.

"When I informed my boss, he set up Operation Lazarus. It has three stages. Stage One was to prove that he is still alive; that was completed within six months."

She didn't mention _how_ it had been proved. She was still having nightmares over it.

"Stage Two was a lot more complicated. We needed to persuade him to stick his head over the parapet for long enough that we could get a solid lead on him. This has led to a few…" she considered her phrasing for a moment "_interesting_ attempts to lure him out."

Such as faking Jenny's death, planting a bomb in the Nepalese Embassy to injure herself, and a varied assortment of other ideas.

Oddly enough, none of them had worked. Dumb luck had yet again led them to him.

"We are now at Stage Three, to capture him. We know he either has or is close to manufacturing the bio weapon, and we need to stop him from doing so. If he figures out that Mossad or MI6 is coming after him, he will panic and we will risk compromising the entire operation. He is not scared of the CIA; he faked his death to escape us last time and we believe that he will try to pull the same stunt again. You need to back off."

She glared at Director David and the most senior MI6 agent present. If they attempted to blow the op at this stage, she was prepared to go after them in much the same way she had gone after Vance. It was not going to be pretty.

Tormenting Vance had been very cathartic. Jenny had suspected him of selling secrets and asked Lily to do some research. She had been amazed to discover that Vance had sold information on Edwards's whereabouts. She had changed a few of her plans, and gone after him with everything she had. Even now, three months down the line, she was pleased by the thought that he was suffering in Gitmo. And she had put him there.

Making a mental note to visit him at some point, simply to rub salt in the wound, Lily continued.

"Jasper Shepard is not capable of doing this alone. He has joined forces with a regular arms dealer, someone well known to some people here."

She nodded at Charlie, who started the slideshow.

"Alexei Ilyich Bronstein. Also known as 'odinokij volk', The Lone Wolf. Born in 1973 in the Soviet Union, his father was in the KGB. His parents were executed just before the end of the Cold War. Alexei was supposed to follow in his father's footsteps and join the KGB. Instead, he took up arms dealing and has been causing problems ever since."

The images on the wall behind her showed The Lone Wolf conducting business deals, drinking coffee and boarding planes.

"This man is dangerous, and I do not use that word lightly. He is not just an arms dealer; he is skilled at using most of the weapons he sells, he is exceptionally merciless, and he is intelligent and wily. He has been a constant thorn in the side of this op since Day One."

The images shifted. He was now shown handling weapons, running down a deserted street and standing over a dead body, gun in hand.

"Mossad and MI6 have separate files on him."

She inwardly smiled at the look of shock on the faces of the people in front of her. Normally, she did not show off just how much information she had accrued. However, the only way she was to win this was by forcing the others to accept that she was in the better position to apprehend her father.

She was starting at a disadvantage as well. They had to recognize that she was prepared to, if necessary, commit patricide. Her main concern was that Mossad would send someone to assassinate him without informing her. She knew that he would survive, and things would get even worse. Although they did not know it, this was personal, and she was determined to take him out herself.

No one bought shame on the Shepard family. And he had.

"The CIA now know that Shepard and The Lone Wolf are in London, conducting a business deal. Our intelligence is good and reliable."

She hoped that they didn't ask her to prove it. She could, but it would cause a lot of problems. Not only for her.

"We are in a good position to not simply strike, but to tail him if need be."

A half-truth. They were in a very bad position to strike, but a very good one to tail him. She needed more time, which wasn't going to occur with two other agencies breathing down her neck.

"We have the necessary resources to conduct this operation."

True.

"We have more background information on the key players than your agencies put together."

True. Especially on one player in particular.

"We have agents who have been working on this for years."

Charlie and herself. Mainly herself though. She was close to spiraling into obsession, and after watching her sister's almost meltdown over Le Grenouille from the sidelines, she knew she would have to be careful not to do the same. Charlie was keeping an eye on her.

"We know and understand the stolen biological weapon, and are capable of stopping it if need be."

She hadn't the foggiest idea how to stop it, but she knew several people who might. The others didn't even know what had been stolen, and she was not planning to tell them either. Hacking the CIA would take days, and she had deliberately wiped all records of the weapon from the system.

In addition to 'misplacing' the relevant paper files.

"And last, but by no means least, we have absolutely no intention of sharing any of our information with you."

She meant it. She been taught to keep her cards close to her chest, and she lived by it. She hadn't even told her sister, who knew most of her deepest, darkest secrets, of her suspicions regarding their father's suicide. Jenny had come to the conclusion that it was murder, and Lily had never bothered to correct her.

Until now.

She hoped that she hadn't just burned all bridges between them.


	10. Decisions

_Hurrah! I'm back! Thanks to Kristen for her wonderful beta reading. Special congratulations to Jess - you go girl!_

Chapter 10: Decisions

McGee watched as everyone split into four groups. The MI6 agents headed for one corner, and Mossad took another. Ziva went to join her father for a few minutes. Lily and Charlie had moved the table back slightly and were examining the maps again; Charlie gesturing particularly violently towards something on the paper.

This had left the NCIS agents where they were.

Tony was staring across the room at Ziva. Gibbs appeared unconcerned by the information, and closed his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep. The Director had been glaring daggers at her sister for most of the briefing.

McGee was not surprised. If he were in her position, he would be mad too. The Director had risked her career to go after the man she believed was responsible for her father's death, only to discover that he wasn't dead. He dreaded to think of the forthcoming argument.

Operation Lazarus was un-nerving. Going after someone who had a biological weapon and had teamed up with a regular arms dealer: this was not going to end well. They would be lucky if everyone survived.

He couldn't understand why NCIS were involved. Jasper Shepard had been in the army, not the navy or marines. To the best of his knowledge, he hadn't committed any criminal offenses towards any naval personal. Did he count as a dependent though? Probably not, given that he must be making a substantial amount of money from his actions.

The Director was his main concern. She had gone after Le Grenouille with everything she had, and McGee was scared that she would use the same tenacity to go after her father. And there were two of them. The unknown sister had the potential to be even more indomitable than the Director.

This was seriously not going to end well.

He wondered about Lily. Who exactly was she? Gibbs knew her from somewhere, and was able to tell the sisters apart. Did they normally get on well? What were they arguing about earlier?

So far, she had shown herself to be professional and persuasive. Mossad and MI6 were following her lead without question, whether because of her forceful personality or the fact she was CIA had yet to be determined.

He hadn't seen any signs that she had lied at any stage. Either she had told the whole truth, which was improbable, or she was like Abby and had no tell. The former would make her a bad CIA agent, while the latter meant trouble. If she had been CIA at least thirteen years ago, she had had time to hone her skills. She had to be good to still be alive.

McGee felt tired, slightly hungover from the previous night, and now he was beginning to feel hungry. Perhaps there was a canteen around somewhere? The others were still in huddles, his team almost certainly didn't know their way around here, and he didn't fancy asking Lily.

Not until he knew her better.

* * *

Ziva moved back towards the center of the room with the rest of the Mossad agents present. The decision had been made.

A short time ago, she had been watching Lily and Charlie. They were acting as though no one else was around, busy with the maps. The laptop had been utilized a few times as well. They were professional with each other, but also friendly and familiar.

She wondered if they had slept together at some stage.

They certainly weren't now. The air between them was wrong for that. But there was a degree of familiarity that didn't come with working together for years. There was an undercurrent of something between them, although she couldn't figure it out.

She would have time for it later. At some point during this operation, she would work them out.

She had been surprised to discover that Charlie was CIA. She hadn't seen anything amiss between them when they had been acting as siblings; Charlie had not fluffed up anything. Now she knew why – he probably knew the Shepard family like the back of his hand. It would have been easy for him to claim to be one.

She was impressed by how easily Lily had taken charge of everyone. She suspected that Jenny didn't mind acquiescing to her sister every now and then, but her own father was not used to it. Nevertheless, Lily had controlled the room from the moment she clapped her hands together, excusing the little argument the sisters had had.

Yet even then, Lily seemed to have the upper edge.

Which she definitely had during the briefing.

Ziva had never seen Jenny so tense. She had been concerned that her friend might get up and walk out, or just take out her gun and shoot her sister.

She wanted to tell Jenny how lucky she was to have a sister still alive. Maybe later, when they were stuck on stakeout. Ziva knew that these extended missions had a tendency to descend into boredom and stakeouts before long.

She watched as the MI6 agents moved back towards the middle of the room as well.

Lily spoke again. "I'm going to be running this with NCIS, for various classified reasons. Remember, you can have one agent each. I'm presuming that Mossad are sending Ziva David."

Ziva nodded. She knew that her father wanted to send another officer, but Lily had probably overruled him earlier.

"And Pete? Who are you sending?"

The man she had addressed spoke up. "John Smith." A tall, lanky man nodded his head; Ziva presumed this was him.

Lily seemed to consider it before nodding. "Agent Ellis will need a copy of his personal file. The _whole_ file; my clearance is higher than your boss'."

Pete grimaced, but set off to get a copy.

"The rest of you," Lily ordered, "out now. If anyone failed to sign a non-disclosure agreement, I need to know now so I can shoot you and the guards on the door."

Most of the Mossad officers chuckled at the semi-joke. The Brits kept a stiff upper lip. They all filed out, leaving the new team standing together.

"Brief introductions," Lily told them. "Name, specialties, etcetera."

Ziva decided to bite the bullet and go first. "Ziva David, Mossad officer. Currently assigned to NCIS."

They went clockwise.

"Tony DiNozzo, NCIS. Good old-fashioned police work."

"Jethro Gibbs –"

"LJ," Lily interrupted. Ziva decided to ask Jenny about the nickname later.

"Call me LJ and I'll kill you," he warned. "NCIS. I tend to lead."

"Charlie Ellis, CIA. Some of you have met me before. I've got a lot of contacts, who all have a lot of contacts. I'm also an expert on Jasper Shepard."

"Lily Shepard, CIA. I can find out just about anything if you give me enough time."

"Tim McGee, NCIS. Computers."

"Jenny Shepard, Director of NCIS." She shot her sister another glare.

"John Smith, MI6. Covert operations are my thing."

Lily looked round at everyone. "Great. Next thing, which you ought to know. I'm fairly sure we've got a leak somewhere. So far, it's only been small things, minor details, but I've got my eyes open."

Ziva filed that away for further information.

"Our current intelligence places Jasper Shepard and The Lone Wolf in London somewhere. I'm working on getting a better location."

"How long do you expect that to take?" John asked.

"A few days, a few weeks. He moves around a lot, getting paranoid in his old age."

"So why did you –"

"Call the meeting now? I couldn't risk someone else bumbling along and ruining six years of hard work. I've never been this close. I need a team of some sorts, and this is the best I could get."

"Had a falling out with the CIA?" Gibbs teased.

"My Director decided it would be too dangerous to read anyone else in."

"But we're okay?" Ziva could hear the concern in his voice.

"Anyone CIA. He doesn't seem to like us very much. We're also a bit bogged down in other things right now."

"Do I want to know what they are?"

"Classified," she told him in a tone that indicated the topic was closed.

"You call me out for a good reason?" Jenny queried, clearly struggling to keep a lid on her temper.

"Relax; I cleared it with the SecNav. He owes me a few favors. They're going to send you quite a bit of the work, so one of us will need to become friendly with the local field offices."

"One of us? Or me?" There was sullenness in her voice. Why?

"Fine, you. It'll be good for you to get out of the office for a bit."

The look on Jenny's face suggested otherwise.

"Do we have a plan?" Tony questioned.

Lily and Charlie shared a look. "We had the idea," Charlie started, hesitantly, "of playing tourists for a while. We need to know the lay of the land a bit better, and we need to blend into the crowds better. Being tourists would accomplish both."

"Any problems?" Lily checked. "Okay, agreed. Tourists we are."


	11. London Calling

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I apologize for the non-update yesterday, but I couldn't even access my documents on the website. Grumble. I think everything is working now though... And the postcard described later on is one that my father sent to me. It's stuck on my wall._

Chapter 11: London Calling

Tony DiNozzo sauntered down the street, trying to look like a tourist and not an armed federal agent. His job was made easier by the fact that Lily had confiscated his gun, and he was genuinely excited to be wandering around London.

When they had left MI6, everyone had started arguing about where they wanted to go. Lily had told them about a recent sighting at the Royal Festival Hall, and suggested casing the area. Charlie had produced a map showing the local tourist attractions, which had led to chaos.

Gibbs and Jenny wanted to visit Cleopatra's Needle, because they had seen the other two and wished to see the third. McGee wanted to call into the Imperial War Museum. Ziva pointed out that she would like to see the Houses of Parliament. Tony personally wanted to pay a trip to London Zoo, but Lily had vetoed it on the grounds that it was too far away.

Actually, Lily had vetoed most of the ideas. The Imperial War Museum was not a good choice because it was mostly indoors. The Houses of Parliament were 'boring' and Jasper Shepard would rather shoot himself than visit, or so she claimed. Tony wondered if it was more likely that she would shoot herself first. She had pointed out that the Needle was a great big slab of stone, and if they really wanted to visit it, they could go without dragging her along.

This had left John Smith's suggestion. The MI6 agent recommended the London Eye, as it offered good views of the surrounding areas. They could all get their bearings before possibly splitting up later.

Now they were standing beneath it, arguing again.

"I am not getting on that _thing_," McGee protested.

"Aw, poor baby," Tony teased. "Still scared of heights?"

"It's an irrational fear. I can't help it."

"Perhaps we could try flooding?" Charlie offered.

Everyone turned to look at him blankly.

"You force someone to confront their fear. I did psychology at college. The best example I heard was putting someone who was frightened of cars in the back seat of one, locking all the doors and windows and driving around until she stopped screaming her head off."

McGee looked nervous. "That sounds rather unethical."

"Who cares about the ethics if it's for the greater good?" Lily scorned.

Jenny glared at her sister.

"I mean, we should always keep ethics at the forefront of our minds," Lily corrected herself automatically.

Gibbs tried, but failed, to hide a smirk.

"If Agent McGee doesn't want to go on it, then he doesn't have to," Jenny pointed out. "If we spot something, we can call him and he can take a look."

"Come on Probie," Tony cajoled. "It'll be fine."

"I agree with him," Lily spoke up suddenly. "It would be a bad idea for all of us to go on at the same time. It would only take one missile to remove us all. I fancy a walk; I'll stay with him. The rest of you can enjoy yourselves."

Gibbs watched her carefully, looking for a trap. She caught McGee's arm and led him away from the others.

* * *

Gibbs observed his senior field agent as he continued to act like a small child. Tony was bouncing around like Abby after ten Caf-Pows.

He missed the Goth, as well as Ducky, and even Palmer to some extent. He might have left Washington the previous morning, but he had been in such a rush that he hadn't had the time to say goodbye. And with a mission like this, anything could happen…

He banished the morbid thoughts to the back of his brain. Lily wouldn't let anything happen, because Jenny would never forgive her. On the other hand, this was a game set by Lily, and she wasn't telling the whole truth yet. He knew from experience.

The briefing had explained some of the more idiotic things she had been doing recently. What it didn't explain was her motivation. Any other CIA agent could have been put on the job, but Lily had ended up with it. Why? Was it a test of her loyalties? Or had she fought to be permitted to run it?

Either option was bad. If Lily went rogue, it would lead to many problems. If she had demanded to run the op, then there was something she was keeping quiet.

For now.

If anyone could get her to open up, it would be Jenny.

He wanted some alone time with Jenny. A chance to talk things over. Lily had been telling him the truth in Kos, a truth that he had been frightened to hear. But now he had had time to sort things out in his head, he was looking forward to it.

As long as Lily didn't stick her nose in where it didn't belong.

When Tony raced past again, Gibbs slapped the back of his head.

"Sorry boss," Tony told him, not looking even slightly sorry.

"I'll set Lily on you," he warned.

"You know what?" Tony started. "I can't figure out how you tell the twins apart."

Even without looking at her, he knew that Jenny was about to lose her temper. "Use the term 'twin' and I won't have to set Lily on you. They'll tear you apart."

Tony shot a prize-winning grin at the Director. "I don't see why."

"We're different," she advised. "We are two different people and if you ever use that term again –"

"You'll do what?" Tony sounded intrigued.

"I'll ask Ziva to deal with you."

Tony involuntarily took a few steps back. "Seriously boss, how do you tell them apart?"

"I just know," Gibbs informed him.

"The gut, I take it. How am I supposed to tell them apart?"

Jenny joined in again, a lot calmer this time. "Don't bother."

"Huh?"

"We both answer to Jenny, regardless. Stick with Jenny and you'll be fine."

"Okay." Tony stood still for a moment, trying to remember it. "I can do that."

* * *

McGee warily watched the CIA agent. He had seen the look that Gibbs had given her, and had decided to stay on his toes.

Lily was interesting, he mused. Her mannerisms were scarily similar to the Director's. She had taken control of the briefing and maintained it.

He had often wondered what it would be like to have a sibling closer in age to him. He loved Sarah, but sometimes he wished that he had the opportunity to grow up with someone else. The Director had had the best chance to do so. In his mind, he could see two redheaded girls trading insults.

He wondered just how identical they were, and knew that if Abby were present, she would be testing them in a variety of different ways. Abby firmly believed that all twins had to be psychic, and he had another image in his head, this time of the Goth locking both sisters in her lab until she'd tested them for everything possible.

Lily finally slowed down and ducked inside a small shop.

He followed, first looking back over his shoulder and satisfying himself that he could still see the London Eye.

She was browsing through a postcard rack immediately inside the door. She ignored all the humorous ones, choosing to leaf through the cute animal options.

"That's nice." He indicated one showing two chimpanzees hugging each other, the small text in the corner saying 'I love you'.

She smiled; an odd smile that he had never seen the Director give. It was very soft, and made her eyes gleam. "It'll do."

He waited patiently as she approached the counter and paid the requisite amount. It reminded him that he only had dollars on him. She moved back towards the door and he led her out.

"Over there." Lily pointed to a nearby mailbox.

"Err, do you know where I can get my money changed over?" he asked.

"Sure. I'll get Charlie to do it later. Trust me; around here you're just going to get stuck in a big long queue at the Post Office."

He panicked as she withdrew a pen from her pocket. "That's… that's my pen."

"I know." She didn't seem even slightly bothered.

"How did you –"

"Sleight of hand is exceptionally easy, and extremely useful," she told him, leaning the postcard against the side of the mailbox and scrawling something on it.

Although he normally respected other people's privacy, McGee was captivated. Who was she writing to?

"My son, Jasper," she answered his unspoken question. "Just to tell him that I'm still breathing and not in the hospital."

"You miss him?" The words flew out of his mouth almost without him realizing.

"Only every day."

She produced a stamp from her pocket, attached it and dropped the postcard through the slot, before turning on him.

"How's your latest book going, Thom?"

He was astonished. He didn't know that she knew.

"Piece of advice. Guinevere Tipford's sister had better be called Lil."

"Guinevere Tipford is a fictional character –"

"Who just happens to be based on my sister?"

He didn't have a comeback for that.

"I enjoyed Rock Hollow," she admitted.

"Thank you." He was pleased. It wasn't every day that a CIA agent praised your literary work.

"Let's hope you survive long enough to publish another."


	12. Eastcote

_Thanks to the wonderful Kristen! I think I owe everyone a nice Jenny/Gibbs/Lily argument, so here it is. _

Chapter 12: Eastcote

Later that evening, they were safely back within the walls of their hotel. Ziva had been amused to discover that the CIA agents were sharing a room the other side of Tony and McGee. She guessed that Lily had booked the rooms at the same time.

There had been a trivial squabble about who was having what room. John had argued that as the CIA was funding everything, there was no point in Gibbs having his own room, and had offered to share.

What John didn't know was that Gibbs was planning on sharing with Jenny.

Lily had come to the rescue and invited her sister to share with her. If John went with Ziva – the Israeli was already starting to worry about this strange guy – and Charlie went with Gibbs, all would be right with the world.

What this really meant was that Charlie would sneak into her room while Jenny snuck into Gibbs'. On the outside, it appeared to be a dignified agreement.

Ziva wondered how long it would take for John, Tony and McGee to figure out what would be going on under their noses. She decided to consider it a test of their investigative skills.

The decision had been taken to use Gibbs' room as a base of operations. This had involved spreading vast quantities of maps everywhere, and sprinkling a ton of files on top.

Even so, most of the information seemed to be in Lily's head, and she had refused to write any of it down.

Now, she was pointing a one map in particular. "Eastcote," she told everyone. "It's supposed to be about fifty minutes away, but the congestion makes it nearer ninety."

"Eastcote?" Tony queried. "But it's to the west of London."

"Never question English place names," Lily advised, looking frustrated. She had gone out earlier to collect some of the local currency for everyone, been stuck in a queue for forty-five minutes, had an argument with an assistant who didn't know what dollars were, discovered she didn't have enough money for a cab ride to the hotel, walked back instead, and the heavens opened, soaking her. Ziva was privately surprised that she hadn't shot something yet.

"So why would we want to go to Eastcote?" Tony was winning the award for being the most annoying, and was likely to be the first person Lily killed if he continued.

"The Lone Wolf owns some warehouses out there. I've been getting reports of recent activity. The eight of us can split into four groups and take turns to stake out the place."

"Two people staking out an entire warehouse complex? Have you ever done this before?"

Lily closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. It seemed to work; Ziva could almost see the tension leaving her body.

"We don't need to stake out the whole place," Charlie pointed out, leaping to his partner's defense. "We need to see Jasper Shepard or The Lone Wolf before calling for backup."

Gibbs took charge. "Give us directions in the morning, and we'll start then. Meet back here at 0700."

Everyone nodded and started to file out of the room. Ziva was the last to depart, pulling the door to and realizing that it wasn't perhaps the best idea to leave the two sisters and Gibbs together right then.

* * *

Jenny looked over at her sister. The afternoon had not gone well for her, and the evening was about to get much worse.

All day long, she had concealed her fury. She had risked her job to bring down Le Grenouille, only to discover that he wasn't responsible for her father's death, that he was, in fact, alive and well. And not only had Lily known for years, she had been pursuing him herself.

It wasn't the only reason she was incensed. She had slapped Lily because of what Abby had told her. This wasn't just some silly prank; this was something incredibly serious.

Gibbs was eyeing them both, judging the situation as best he could. Jenny knew that he would separate them if things got physical, which, right now, she thought was probably the best thing.

"How dare you?" she hissed in Lily's general direction.

"How dare I what?"

"You know very well what!"

"You could be referring to any number of things. I need you to clarify."

Jenny was getting more livid by the minute. "You killed a man, knowing full well that he was innocent!"

"Of the crime that you believed he committed," Lily pointed out. "He was still guilty of arms dealing, pissing off the CIA and being about to jump ship."

"You could have told me!"

"I was not permitted to read you in."

"Rubbish. You could have read me in before this ended up as classified."

"You mean when I first got suspicious? What did you want me to say? 'I'm pregnant, stuck in archives, and had the crazy idea that Dad might still be walking this earth'?"

"Yes!"

"You wouldn't have believed a word I said! You were so wrapped up in the fantasy that he was framed and murdered and whatnot. What was I supposed to do? Bash you over the head with a bottle of bourbon?"

Jenny winced. Okay, maybe she had been a little obsessed.

"Anyway, I was doing you a favor."

"By not telling me?"

"By shooting René Benoit."

From the corner of her eye, Jenny saw Gibbs tense.

"Oh, you didn't tell him?" Lily taunted.

"It was none of his business."

"What, that you were about to commit murder? I shot him so you wouldn't end up in prison. You were damn lucky that I managed to get an official order through. I was up all night getting the paperwork sorted."

"Poor you, with all your paperwork."

"You'd rather be doing 25 to life?"

"Stop changing the topic."

"You bought up Le Grenouille, not me."

"You switched my birth control pills for fertility meds."

"How is that a problem?"

"Are you insane?!"

"I've watched you with Jasper," Lily informed her. "You want a child of your own. Don't bother lying to me."

"I'm the Director! I can't have a child out of wedlock; it's not the done thing!"

"Why do you think I got you out here? You can still run your precious agency, and you aren't putting your head on a platter in Washington."

"You knew I was pregnant."

"Of course I knew. I knew when we were in Kos. It was rather obvious, I have to admit."

Jenny glared at her.

"You glow," Lily offered.

"Glow?"

"Come on! I tried to tell you. I told LJ to buy you a pregnancy test."

Jenny stared into her sister's eyes. Lily wasn't lying. She rounded on Gibbs, as Lily made for the door.

"See you tomorrow," she called, making a swift exit.

* * *

Gibbs had been watching the argument vigilantly, prepared to jump in if it got out of hand. He had been amazed to learn that Lily, not Jenny, had shot Le Grenouille, although he thought he should have spotted it from the beginning. Now, he was being pierced by a glare from his lover, Lily having scarpered.

He clung to the hope that Lily would walk back through the door at any moment. Although it would risk both of them going after him, it was much more likely that Jenny would round on her sister again, giving him an opportunity to escape.

But he wasn't sure he wanted to.

They needed an argument to clear the air between them. They were both capable of compromise, but they were also stubborn. An argument would defuse the situation better than anything else.

"I didn't believe her," he offered, all of a sudden.

"What?"

"I didn't believe that she could know that you were pregnant. She didn't tell me about the pills or I would have warned you."

"Jethro, you know what she's like."

"You know her better than me, Jen! What was I meant to do?"

"Tell me what she said! She's right more often than she's wrong."

"Thanks for the tip! I'll try and remember for next time."

"Why don't you remember your own rules? Rule eight: never take anything for granted. You took for granted the idea that she couldn't know. You made a decision to not tell me."

"Yes, and I'm sorry for that."

She smiled impishly. "You actually apologized? Did Hell freeze over when I wasn't paying attention?"

He smiled back at her; he couldn't resist her smile. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I was scared and confused and trying to work it out."

She giggled. "Say that again."

He determined that he liked pregnancy hormones. "Which part?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry." He drew her into his arms and caressed her back gently.

"And again."

"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear.

She kissed his jaw lightly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, tightening his hold on her.

He decided that he would apologize to her every day of the week if this was her response.


	13. Postcard 1

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen. Time for a few confessions: 1, I'm running a horrible fever. 2, I'm moving into my new place tomorrow (should be fun with the fever). 3, the pace starts to pick up from here. And 4... I was going to apologize to all Tiva fans for what is coming up, but I feel so ill that I'm happy for you to lynch me._

Chapter 13: Postcard 1

Tony forced himself to get out of bed when his alarm went off. He didn't see the point of it all.

It had been a month since they had arrived in London. A month of outstandingly boring stakeouts. They had nothing more than they had started with, with the exception of a few very grainy images of what might possibly be The Lone Wolf.

Lily had tried to liven things up a bit by constantly rotating the teams around. Tony had spent time with everyone, including the MI6 agent. John seemed to be rather unremarkable, spending most of his time waffling on about his wife.

What was far more interesting, in Tony's opinion, was that Jenny was pregnant. After struggling to work out which sister he was talking to, seeing as every time he called 'Jenny' they both turned around, he had noticed that one of them was putting on a little weight. Discussing this with Ziva on yet another stakeout, she had advised him not to ask a woman if she had put on weight. He had actually taken her advice, and asked the other sister instead. Lily had cheerfully confirmed Jenny's pregnancy, before shutting up completely.

By now, the whole team knew, and she was starting to show more as well. Charlie had openly questioned whether she should be sent home, until Lily had threatened to shoot him. It was obvious that Charlie had worked with her for years, as he had not only taken her threat seriously, but also returned to the hotel the next day with several blank postcards for her. Tony had yet to discover why.

He showered, got dressed, and moved down the hall to Gibbs' room. Gibbs had decided that a morning briefing was good, although two people were always missing because they were on stakeout. At present, Charlie and McGee were sitting in a warm car observing the warehouses.

Everyone else was in attendance. Lily and Jenny were sitting in the corner, conversing quietly. Gibbs was poring over a very blurry image, Ziva was cleaning her gun, and John was checking the morning mail.

Gibbs glanced up as he entered. "You're late, DiNozzo," he growled.

"McGeek messed with the alarm again."

"You started it," Lily pointed out.

He didn't ask how she knew about the pranks. Lily hadn't been joking when she said she could find out anything, given the right amount of time.

John started handing out the mail. He gave a few envelopes to Jenny, who had been receiving more mail then everyone else put together. The SecNav was sending her requests, while Cynthia was forwarding the most important messages and the local field office was also passing information. Lily had had some odd stuff as well, which she tended to open away from everyone else. Tony didn't understand why people would send classified things in the mail, especially as all he read in the local newspapers was government files being mislaid.

Today, Lily had two envelopes and a postcard. She put the envelopes to one side and scanned the postcard. He noticed that she tensed up.

"He's left London," she warned. "I need to book plane tickets to Italy." She ran out of the room, leaving the postcard behind.

Tony walked over to where she had been and picked it up. Jenny didn't try to stop him; she looked as curious as he felt.

"This is weird," he admitted.

"What does it say?" Ziva asked, putting her gun back together.

He read it aloud.

"Everywhere around the world, "I love you", it means the same.  
Every day and every night, only you can touch my flame.  
So take my heart, take my soul, everything of me.  
Everywhere you go, my baby, even Italy."

He looked up to see everyone staring at him blankly.

"That's all it says?" John queried.

"No name?" Ziva questioned.

"That's it," Tony confirmed. "Nothing else." He wondered what it meant, and who it was from.

* * *

Somehow or other, Lily managed to get them on a plane the same day. Gibbs wasn't sure he wanted to know the finer details of how she had arranged it, but guessed that she had called in a few favors.

Gibbs had more important things on his mind. Had they removed everything from the hotel room? Would they manage to get their weapons through security? Was Jenny doing okay?

He had refused to allow her to carry her own suitcase. She hadn't protested much. He presumed she was saving it up for when Lily woke up so they could go after him together.

Sister number two had booked tickets on a commercial flight. He had a funny feeling that she had known that she needed to get his team involved, and left the private plane on standby for them a month ago. Now they were sitting on a noisy plane.

Normally, he could cope with the noisy kids and the incredibly talkative people sitting nearby. And having Jenny sitting next to him was the icing on the cake, as far as he was concerned. Unfortunately, Lily was sitting on her sister's other side, and they had fallen asleep together. Part of him thought they looked very cute, their heads resting together and their arms intertwined, while another part of him wanted Jenny to lean on him.

In addition, someone had bought a screaming toddler on board. If Lily had been awake, he would have expected her to glare at the child until he shut up. Somehow, she was sleeping through it. Not only that, there was a lady on the other side of the aisle who was loudly complaining about the food, the service, and everything else she could possibly think of.

He debated asking Ziva to shoot her so he could get some peace.

The postcard business was puzzling him. Lily had laid claim to it when she had returned, and refused to talk about it. He knew this meant an informant, but he was having problems aligning a mysterious source with the words on the card. It was almost a poem declaring love. He supposed it was coded so that no one else could understand it.

Although the bit about Italy was obvious enough.

But why a postcard? Not a quick note, passed through many hands on the street, not a whispered message, not a call from a public phone box, but a postcard. He knew that she sent semi-regular postcards to her son, but Jasper was only eight and he doubted that she would give him her hotel address.

"Boss?"

He turned to glare at DiNozzo, who was sitting in the seat behind him.

Tony ignored it. "Are they asleep?"

"Wake them and I'll let Lily go after you."

"How much do you know about her?"

Gibbs considered this. What did Tony want to know? "Fairly well," he replied.

"Is she single?"

If Gibbs could have reached round to slap him, he would have done. "I don't know and I don't care."

"Come on, boss! You've got to help me out here!"

He stared at him. Lily and Tony? It was an odd combination, and he had a funny feeling that she would eat him alive.

"She's hot!" Tony exclaimed.

Gibbs spotted the slight frown that crossed Ziva's face. "You do realize that you've just called your Director 'hot'."

"Yeah, but she's… taken. And she's scary."

"Lily's not scary?" The thought amused him. He was happier to annoy Jenny than Lily any day of the week.

"She is, but in a cute way."

Gibbs shook his head and turned back. He made a mental note to tell Jenny about it later. They could use a good laugh.

* * *

McGee groaned as he lugged his suitcase through the airport.

Technically, he was lugging Tony's suitcase as well, which seemed to have been filled with rocks.

While waiting for the carousel to bring their bags, Lily had vanished. McGee suspected that she had gone to harass the customs officials so they could get past without having to open their bags. Lily knew how to save time.

Now they were moving through the terminal. He wondered if anyone would slow down for long enough for him to get a trolley. Up ahead, Gibbs was easily managing two suitcases, but he was struggling. Tony was bugging Ziva in a way that suggested a painful ending.

McGee had heard Tony's discussion with Gibbs earlier, and was highly entertained at the thought of Tony and Lily. He was debating whether to tell Tony that she had a son, when the party came to a stop.

The sisters were arguing.

"Just hire a damn car," Jenny ordered.

"We can get a cab. They're not as expensive here as London."

"We came here so abruptly; do you even have any Euros?"

"I always carry Euros; I'm prepared. I'll pay for the cab ride."

The Director stormed out of the front doors, Gibbs close behind. Everyone else slowly filed out as she looked for the cab rank.

"Over there," she pointed.

They moved off again. McGee noticed a black Jeep coming towards them. He wasn't sure why he couldn't take his eyes off it…

The back window rolled down and a hail of gunfire erupted from inside.

It was aimed at them.


	14. A Traitor

_Thanks once more to my wonderful beta Kristen! I'm feeling a lot better now, but I'm rather drowsy..._

Chapter 14: A Traitor

It took Jenny a few seconds to clear her mind. What had just happened?

She remembered an argument, then a car…

Black car. A Jeep Patriot MK. Someone had stuck a gun out of the back window. An Uzi.

She looked around her. She was lying on the sidewalk behind a parked vehicle, Gibbs by her side. She guessed he had pushed her to the ground, and in the process, she had hit her head slightly against the car. It would explain her brief lapse in memory.

Only Lily had her gun out; the others had been forced to pack them in their suitcases. Jenny knew that her sister must have persuaded someone to let her take the gun on the plane.

She wound her memory back again. As well as the automatic weapon firing, she now recalled a sound she knew well. Lily had fired all thirteen rounds of her SIG P228.

The coast was clear. Everyone was edging back round the vehicles that they had been using as cover. Lily slammed another clip into her gun.

"Good shot!" Tony exclaimed.

"Them or me?" Lily growled, still checking the area, only half-aware of what he was saying.

"You didn't miss."

"I wouldn't be any good at my job if I couldn't hit a barn."

"That wasn't a barn," McGee pointed out. "It must have been doing 60, at least."

"And?" Lily was unperturbed by her skill, and still checking the area. She wasn't sure if everything was over, or if someone else was coming. She'd been through too many of these incidents…

"Ziva!" Tony yelled, drawing everyone's attention.

The Israeli was still crouched behind her car, but leaning heavily against it. Blood was trickling down her left arm, between her fingers that were trying to stop the flow.

Jenny rushed to her friend's side.

"I am fine," Ziva told her, without being asked.

"We need to get you to the hospital," Jenny informed her.

"It is only a graze. I will live. It is more important for us to get away from here."

"You're sure it's just a graze?" Lily called.

Jenny pealed Ziva's fingers away and had a quick look. "Positive," she shouted back.

"I've got painkillers in my suitcase. Let's get out of here while we still can."

"Hey," McGee piped up. "Shouldn't we inform the local police?"

"What would you like to tell them?" Charlie queried. "Sorry, the gunmen aren't a threat to public safety, but they're trying to kill us?"

"Easier to call their bosses once we're out of here," Lily agreed. Her gun was now resting by her side, but she was ready to use it again if necessary.

Jenny hoped that there would be not more excitement. Normally she loved fieldwork. Now she was just worried about the child she was carrying.

* * *

Ziva's arm ached as Lily checked them into a downtown hotel. It was not the most comfortable place to be, but it would hide them well.

It was a tall, yellowish building, hidden between others. The building was five storeys high, and there was almost certainly a basement underneath. There was no sign outside, which meant that unless someone knew the area, they would walk straight past it. Ziva had initially wondered why Lily had entered the place. Opposite the hotel was a little park, filled with flowers. Red roses stood next to purple chrysanthemums. One corner was full of bluebells. As they had walked past, Jenny had reached for Gibbs' hand. The Israeli suspected that the couple would be spending some time there when the heat died down.

Truth be told, Ziva wasn't worried about the graze. Okay, she had to make sure that it didn't become infected, but she had been in much worse positions before. She could still walk, and she was not in intolerable pain. She was in a safe position, not in the middle of a gunfight or an unknown structure.

However, she was in the middle of an unknown mission. Lily was definitely holding something back, and Ziva wanted to know what it was. Gibbs had told her before not to push too far, and the Israeli felt that this was an appropriate time to practice it. Lily was far more likely to blab to her sister if she wasn't under pressure.

Lily finished her conversation at the reception desk and placed a large wad of bills on the counter. She turned back to everyone else.

"Four rooms, next to each other. I presume we'll stick to the same arrangement as last time?"

"I think Agent Gibbs and Director Shepard can stop sneaking around though," John observed.

Lily glanced at her sister, before nodding her head. "Fine, agreed. Although I think I should complain now about Charlie's sleepwalking."

"I do not sleepwalk," her partner immediately protested.

"So that footage on YouTube was faked?"

Ziva smirked as Tony turned a laugh into a coughing fit.

"Honestly, that wasn't me," Tony objected.

"Seeing as it's been on the site for the last three years, I think we can safely say it wasn't you," Lily grinned.

She led them up the back stairs to the second floor. Turning right, she made her way to the end four rooms.

"Meet in my room in twenty minutes," Gibbs ordered, carrying his and Jenny's bags through the end door.

"With me," Lily told Ziva, gently taking her arm and pushing her into another room.

Ziva kept her eyes on the CIA agent as she rooted through her suitcase, hunting for painkillers. At last, she stood up straight and passed over a bottle of pills.

"Take two now, and I'll give you another two before you go to sleep," Lily directed.

"I do not need them," Ziva pointed out.

"Just take them. We can argue if you need any more tomorrow."

Ziva groaned, but swallowed the pills. Perhaps if she were polite, Lily would open up to her.

"Think it's time to meet up," Lily warned.

* * *

Gibbs watched as Lily left the room, allegedly to contact her sources. He had learnt not to trust anything she said.

Someone had tipped off the gunmen. There was no other explanation. They had just got off the plane and walked outside before it happened. And only the eight of them knew where they were going.

There was a traitor in their midst.

Gibbs immediately discounted himself. He had not done anything that could have tipped anyone off. He doubted that any member of his team or Jenny had knowingly told anyone where they were going as well. He trusted them.

Which left Lily, Charlie and John.

Lily was a known element. She was smart and quick on the uptake. Unfortunately, she was also devious. She was playing a dangerous game as it was. Although it appeared lucky that no one had been killed earlier, if it were part of a game she was playing, she would have insisted that they keep Jenny safe. Lily was definitely hiding something, and he needed to know what it was.

Charlie was a semi-unknown element. At first, Gibbs had believed that Charlie was the sisters' brother, but had since discovered that he was Lily's CIA partner. Having now spent a month with him, the ex-marine had got to know him slightly better. Lily trusted him, and would never allow someone under her wing without running some incredibly stringent background checks beforehand.

John was an unknown element. He might be MI6, but Gibbs knew next to nothing about him. He had a wife, who he had mentioned a few times. Other than that, nothing. He guessed that the Brits had run a background check on him before he had been allowed into the agency, but hoped that someone at the CIA had dug deeper.

Lily, Charlie and John. One of them was likely to be a traitor. But whom?

Gibbs decided to keep a closer eye on all three of them.

He shifted in his seat so that he could see Charlie. The young man was examining the personnel files in his suitcase. Presumably, he had had the same idea as Gibbs. A leak existed, and it needed to be plugged. Could Charlie's current movements be a ploy to throw him off the scent?

John was on the other side of the room, going over a small map of Rome that Lily had managed to persuade the hotel staff to hand over. It wasn't much of a map, but it would have to do for now. Until Lily returned, there was little to do.

Gibbs turned towards his team. Whatever painkillers Lily had given Ziva were taking effect, as she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Jenny had bandaged her friend's injured arm carefully after washing it. The redhead was leafing through a paperback novel she had bought with her. Her eyes were not moving though; Gibbs knew she was still in shock over the shooting.

Tony and McGee, on the other hand… They were squabbling away as normal. Tony was attempted to take a peek at McGee's notebook of ideas, while the other man fought to keep him away.

One person was trying to get rid of them. One person on the inside. One traitor.


	15. The Colosseum Part One

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Before I get inundated with messages about it, please remember that Tony has been told to call both sisters 'Jenny'._

Chapter 15: The Colosseum Part One

The atmosphere in the hotel room was subdued the next morning when Lily returned. It had finally sunk in that someone had tried to kill them at the airport.

Lily was only surprised at how long it had taken some of them to realize that this mission wasn't going to be a walk in the park. In contrast, she had been dodging a lot for the last six years, so a simple drive-by shooting wasn't going to faze her.

It had shocked her though.

She hadn't thought that Jasper Shepard would try something like that. The rules of the game hadn't changed in years.

Thinking about it, she remembered that he had attempted to have her son bought to him. Okay, so the rules _had_ changed, but she hadn't been paying attention.

She wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

The rules had been fairly straightforward. Keep civilians out of it, as much as possible. Try to slide things under the radar. The most important rule: no holds barred.

Now they were changing, she was going to have to be careful. She hated the extra paperwork that occurred when civilians were caught in the line of fire. Not to mention what Jenny would do if someone else was hurt.

Lily sank onto the bed in the middle of the room, and wondered what everyone would do if she fell asleep for a few hours. She hadn't had the opportunity to sleep since London, and it was starting to take its toll.

Sleep was fast becoming a luxury that she couldn't afford. And her lack of sleep at the moment had a very good cause.

"You ever going to report?" LJ growled from across the room, one arm wrapped around her sister's shoulders.

She surprised herself by letting out a yawn.

"Long night?" Charlie offered.

"Very long night," she replied, forcing herself to sit up.

"Glad to see that someone had fun," LJ grumbled. "We've only been stuck here all night."

"You're not counting the interlude in the park out the front, I presume," she snapped back.

LJ looked taken aback, while Jenny smirked. Tony chuckled in the far corner.

Tony. She knew he had a crush on her, much to her amusement. She didn't mind the odd bit of flirting between them, although she could tell that it bothered Ziva a lot. If only they knew…

"Anything interesting happen?" Charlie tried to steer the conversation back to safer ground.

"I didn't run into any zombies, if that's what you're asking," she quipped.

She was pleased to see the tension in the room lift, if only for a moment.

"I did get a lead," she told them, making everyone focus again. "A possible meeting in two weeks at the Colosseum."

"That's a long time off," Tony noted.

"Considering that we need to learn the layout of the place, figure out how we're supposed to locate the exact meeting place, work out the possible players, and find a way to record the encounter, I'd say we're cutting it a bit fine," she countered.

"How possible is 'possible'?" LJ questioned.

"Very very probable," Lily answered. "Unless someone falls ill or something major happens, my information is accurate."

"Tourists again?" Jenny asked.

"I'll get us some tickets," Lily confirmed.

* * *

Jenny hung back as the others filed out of the room to get breakfast. Gibbs remained where he was, while Lily had figured out that something was up and busied herself with some files.

Sometimes it was very useful to not have to speak aloud.

"What do you want?" Lily asked, straight to the point. Clearly, she needed a lot of sleep.

"I assumed that the mission would be over by now," Jenny admitted.

"You know me, long missions are my specialty."

"And here I thought you liked to do things the easy way."

"Give me something complicated any day. What do you want?"

"I need something."

"I got that bit."

Jenny felt awkward discussing this with her sister.

"Spit it out before I go to sleep."

"I need an ultrasound."

Lily stared at her for a second. "I'll sort one out then."

"You sure?"

"It'll have to wait until after the meeting, unless you're really worried about something."

Jenny considered. "I can wait."

"Great. Now if you don't mind, I need to spend some quality time with the inside of my eyelids."

Jenny watched as her sister walked out of the room, barely able to stay moving in a straight line. She sat down next to Gibbs and rested her head on his shoulder.

At first, she had been fuming at Lily's madcap plan, but now she was just feeling nervous. How was she supposed to be a mother? Lily obviously couldn't cope, or she would never have put her own son into a boarding school. If Lily couldn't cope, it meant that she wouldn't be able to cope either.

On the other hand, Lily had been dealing with something else at the same time. Her husband had literally died in her arms, and Lily had fallen to pieces. Trying to cope with a newborn on top of that had been the straw that broke the camel's back. Only by letting go of her son had she recovered.

Perhaps it would be okay. Jethro hadn't run for the hills and was sticking by her. He was going his best to keep her off her feet, which could only be a good thing. He had taken to carrying everything for her, and making sure that she ate something even when she felt nauseous. Thankfully, her morning sickness was starting to subside.

He was also putting up with her mood swings. Jenny had been surprised when she realized just how bad they were. She had found herself going from joy to anger to fear to sadness to joy again, all in the space of five minutes.

She almost jumped out of her skin when Gibbs put his arm around her.

"Penny for your thoughts," he teased softly.

"I'm worried," she confessed.

He kissed the top of her head. "Everything's going to be fine."

"You sure?" she whispered, so quiet she was sure he hadn't heard it.

"Or I'll kill Lily," he promised.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo was getting restless. It was now their fifteenth day on stakeout at the Colosseum. Initially, he had enjoyed being outside – in Italy, of all places! – and acting like a tourist.

Now, he knew the inside of the Colosseum better than he knew his own apartment. The sun was beating down mercilessly on his head, and he was bored rigid.

The only good thing about the situation was that he had managed to be partnered with Lily.

The CIA agent had suggested that they separate to cover more ground. Gibbs and Jenny had immediately demanded to go together, while Charlie had offered to go with Ziva. Sensing that Lily was going to be the next to go, Tony had asked to go with her. McGee and John were left to patrol the area together.

Spending time with Lily had been fun. She seemed to know just how to stay out of the sun, and had no problems with dozing off while sitting on a rock. She teased him, flirted with him, and harassed him.

In retaliation, he had been quoting movies at her. She claimed that she was too busy working to watch much, so he had taken it upon himself to educate her, starting with The Lone Wolf.

"Did you know," he had intoned, "that The Lone Wolf was a character in 24 movies, some of which were silent?"

She had merely chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"Played by various actors, The Lone Wolf was also known as Michael Lanyard, a jewel thief turned detective."

"Did you know about the nine books in which he was a character?" she had retorted, which had effectively shut him up.

He had to confess that she had a certain charm. Whereas Jenny tended to stay in 'Director Mode' a lot of the time, Lily had no problems relaxing.

He glanced around the Colosseum again. The Probie had taken it upon himself to inform everyone about the place. Tony had known that the place had been used for gladiatorial battles and public spectacles, but suspected that McGeek was pulling his leg about the mock sea battles. Even if the arena had been flooded, Tony couldn't believe that there was anywhere near enough room to have a sea battle.

Suddenly, Lily linked her arm through his, and practically pulled him through an archway.

"What's up, gorgeous?" he smiled at her, confused.

"Please tell me you just saw that," she hissed at him, reaching for her cell phone.

"Saw what?" Now he really was confused.

She rapidly tapped out a text message and sent it to the others.

"Jenny, what's wrong?"

"We are in so much trouble," she muttered.

He took her by the shoulders and shook her softly, not daring to hit her head. "Talk to me."

"I just saw The Lone Wolf. And I think he might have seen me."


	16. The Colosseum Part Two

_Thanks to Kristen! Just to make things clear, at the end of the last chapter, Tony was with Lily, although he called her Jenny (because he was told to call both the sisters 'Jenny')._

Chapter 16: The Colosseum Part Two

Timothy McGee searched the Colosseum.

Moments before, Lily had sent a text message to everyone. It stated that The Lone Wolf was present, and he might have seen her.

This was not good.

She had been pursuing Jasper Shepard for years, and both he and The Lone Wolf could recognize the sisters. If he had seen Lily, he could easily scarper.

On the other hand, she had also seen a low-level arms dealer in the area, and relayed that on. The other arm dealer didn't know what she looked like. It also meant that the meeting was definitely on.

It now came down to whether The Lone Wolf was prepared to take a risk.

McGee thought that he was likely to. No one got to be a successful arms dealer without taking a few risks. Lily had ducked out of the way, and Jenny had rapidly moved out of sight as well so he didn't see her and panic. Hopefully he would think it was a trick of the light, if he had seen her at all.

Two members of the team were down.

Gibbs was with the Director, and would be occupied with protecting her in case someone had seen them. Tony was with Lily, and couldn't reappear without giving away her location.

Another two members of the team were down.

Ziva, Charlie, John and himself were left. McGee was starting to lose hope. How had this gone horribly wrong? At least there was no firefight. Not yet, anyway.

He finally caught sight of the Russian, standing on the bridge across the hypogeum. The Lone Wolf was mimicking the tourists around him by leaning over the side and looking at the columns.

At the far end of the bridge, John was using a camcorder to film him, hiding as a tourist himself. McGee watched as another man joined the Russian and they conversed in low voices. Something was exchanged between them, what appeared to be a slip of paper. The two men split up and moved away from their meeting point.

McGee allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. So far, so good.

He walked towards the exit. There was nothing else he could do within the walls, and their own meeting point was at a small pizza stand outside.

It took him a while to fight his way out, and he made his way to the stall to discover that he was the last to arrive. The Director was busy eating pizza. McGee smothered a laugh; everyone was certainly finding it easier to tell the sisters apart at the moment, although Tony was still calling both of them 'Jenny'. They both answered to it anyway.

"You owe me twenty bucks," he heard Tony whisper to Lily.

"I never agreed to take your bet," she countered smoothly.

"Damn!"

"Did you get it?" McGee asked John.

"Perfectly," the MI6 agent replied.

* * *

Although Gibbs was not present, they were still using his room as the briefing one. Ziva found this rather amusing.

Shortly after their encounter at the Colosseum, Lily had taken Gibbs and Jenny to a doctor's appointment. The team were all secretly excited about this, and Ziva knew of a few wagers that Tony had started.

She might have joined in a few of them as well.

Tony was currently offering good odds on the sex of the baby, the due date, the name and the weight. Ziva had tried to get Jenny to open up and tell her some of the details, to no avail. Jenny didn't know the sex or the due date, and hadn't even thought about names.

Nevertheless, the Israeli was determined to win some money from Tony DiNozzo. She was going to ask Lily next.

Ziva thought that the meeting had gone fairly well. Evidently, The Lone Wolf had not spotted Lily, and John had managed to capture the whole encounter on the camcorder. Their next job was to send the tape back to Abby to analyze.

John carefully opened the side of the camcorder to remove the tape…

And froze.

"What is wrong?" Ziva questioned.

"The tape's not here." John sounded completely shocked.

"How can it not be there? Did you put it in?"

"Are you sure?" McGee joined in. "I checked it myself before we left."

"Of course I'm sure," John yelled. "It's not here!"

"Calm down a minute," Tony offered, trying to defuse the situation. "From the top. Who put the tape in before we left?"

"I did," John claimed.

"I checked it," McGee backed him up.

"Did you check that the tape was there before you filmed?" Tony queried.

"No. I put it in before I left the hotel and I know it was there," John protested.

"You think it might have been misplaced?" Ziva asked Tony.

Charlie decided to join in. "Did you, at any point, let the camcorder out of your sight?" he questioned John.

"I gave it to McGee for a few minutes when I went to the bathroom," John admitted.

Charlie turned to McGee. "Did you let it out of your sight during that time?"

"No." McGee was adamant.

"Did you swipe the tape?" John demanded of McGee.

"What?"

"You were the only other person to have it. You're the leak!"

"Hold your horses," Charlie jumped in. "No accusations without proof."

"I've got proof," John shouted. "He was the only one who could have taken that tape."

"You could have taken it," McGee pointed out. "Just because I had it for five minutes doesn't prove that I took it."

"McGee is right," Ziva rushed to his defense. "You could have taken it and be blaming it on McGee."

"That is preposterous," John spluttered. "Your agent is the leak."

Charlie entered the fray again. "Unless you can prove it, stop accusing him."

"Someone stole that tape so we would have nothing! I didn't do it, and _he_ was the only other person who could have!"

"Enough," Charlie ordered. "We should all go to our rooms and sleep. Maybe we can look at this better when we are well-rested."

* * *

Jenny sat in the waiting room, Gibbs one side of her and Lily the other.

It was strangely quiet. Lily had managed to book an early evening appointment, leaving Jenny to presume that the place would be overrun. But it was empty.

Lily might have been through this process before, but Jenny had ordered her to remain outside for the scan. This was her time, hers and Jethro's. Lily had readily agreed, after pointing out that the doctor spoke fluent English and she wouldn't be needed to translate.

Now the nerves were back.

Gibbs clutched her hand tightly, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. It also reminded her that she was the only one who had never been through this before.

The butterflies grew in her stomach.

The door opened. "Ms Shepard?" the man called.

Jenny sized him up. She had assumed that she was going to end up with a sleazy, second-rate slimeball, but Lily had, as usual, gone the whole way. He looked professional and smart, and if she hadn't been dating Jethro, she might have been tempted to ask him out for dinner.

He lead her and Gibbs through to another room. It was small, but cozy. Jenny climbed onto the chair while Gibbs stood next to her, glaring at the doctor.

Jenny suppressed a smirk. A jealous Gibbs was a fun Gibbs.

"Ms Shepard," the doctor spoke with the tiniest trace of an Italian accent. "My name is Doctor Jones. Your sister told me about you."

Of course. Lily had offered to sort everything out, and that meant sorting everything.

Doctor Jones moved a machine over to her side and started to set it up. He smeared a very cold gel over Jenny's abdomen and placed a probe on top. He fiddled with the screen for a moment.

Gibbs took the opportunity to lean over and take Jenny's hand. She smiled back at him.

The room filled with the sound of a rapid heartbeat. Jenny glanced up at Gibbs to share a grin with him. This was _their_ baby's heartbeat. Their baby.

She was so happy, it took her a moment to realize that there was another beat just behind the first one. Hang on a minute…

"Congratulations, Ms Shepard." Gibbs looked as though he was about to punch the guy if he called her 'Ms Shepard' again. "You are carrying twins."

Twins? She knew it ran in the family, but was certainly wasn't expecting it.

"I can see legs and arms… everything seems to be okay," the doctor reassured them.

Jenny smiled as she looked at the screen. Why couldn't she stop smiling? Why didn't she want to stop smiling?

"Would you like to know the gender?" Doctor Jones queried.

Jenny turned to Gibbs. "I want to be surprised," she told him.

He raised his eyebrows. "I don't mind."

"Are you sure?"

"I want you to be happy. If you want to know, that's fine by me. If you don't, it's fine by me."

She considered for a moment. "We'll wait," she decided.

The doctor nodded. "I presume you would like a picture?"

"Of course."

"Give me a minute."

Jenny still couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Telling Lily was going to be fun.


	17. The Truth About Jasper

_Thanks to Kristen! I've just put another Lily oneshot up for Jibbsfest, please check it out. Some more answers in this chapter!_

Chapter 17: The Truth About Jasper

Gibbs could barely wipe the smile off his face as he walked back to the hotel, Jenny by his side.

Twins.

He had never thought that he would become a father again, and he was incredibly happy to be given a second chance. And he was getting two chances as well.

Kelly had meant the world to him, and he missed her every day. He knew that he would never fully get over her death, and he was determined to make sure that his new children would know about her.

Right now, he had more pressing problems on his mind.

Like Jenny.

She seemed to be a little all over the place. It wasn't the mood swings; he had experienced those before. There was something underneath, something that was worrying her.

His best guess was that she was concerned about becoming a mother. Every first time mother was nervous, but she had more to worry about than most. She was older and had a dangerous position.

She also had her job to worry about; it wasn't one where she could just take a few months off to have a child and return. Her political opponents could use this as a weapon, and Jenny loved her job. Lily could run some interference, but nowhere near enough as he would have liked.

Then there was the fact that Lily had practically given up her son when he was only six months old. He didn't doubt that she loved him, but she had done something that he could only view as heartbreaking. He might not know the whole story – Lily changed the topic every time he tried to bring it up – but the sisters were scarily similar. If Jenny felt threatened enough, would she let go of the children?

He slipped his hand into hers. He was prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep her and the twins safe.

* * *

The next morning, the atmosphere was still tense. Ziva's eyes swept the hotel room again, determined to work out who the leak was.

She had been involved in perilous missions before with Mossad, and dealt with leaks. But she could not work out who might be leaking information this time. Or who had stolen the tape.

She trusted her team. Gibbs would never betray his country and neither would Jenny. The two of them were sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling at their photo of the scan. The image had already been passed around the room several times, and Lily had attempted to steal it.

Tony and McGee were half-asleep in the corner. They would not pass information either, Ziva decided. Tony was too loyal, and McGee would not do anything illegal, barring the odd computer hack to solve a case.

This left the two CIA agents and John.

Charlie. A good agent. He had managed to convince her that he really was Jenny's brother, committing the amazing feat of concealing the truth from her training. Very few people could fool her, and he had. From what she had observed, he was devoted to getting the job done, something that did not jibe with their leak. On the other hand, he was an exceptional liar and could possibly be hiding something.

He seemed nice enough, but Ziva had learnt to see past first impressions. He had a small measure of control over his partner, which was useful when she hit the deep end. Try as she might, Ziva could not see Lily having a partner who could potentially leak.

John. He tended to keep himself to himself. The Israeli knew that this was a typical British attitude, so was not too worried about it by itself. He was smart and handsome. The problem was that he had admitted at the start that he was good at covert operations. Any leak would involve a deep cover, and so far John had proved that he was excellent at his job.

His reaction the day before had been interesting. He had been incredibly quick to point the finger of guilt at McGee when he had discovered that the tape was missing. Why? McGee would never sell his country out and Ziva knew it. Any mole would need a fall guy. Could John have chosen him?

And then there was Lily. Intelligent and devious. She had proved herself time and time again, for both the CIA and to Ziva. For some reason, she had insisted on running the mission, even though her father was the one they were going after. Lily was good at sleight of hand, and could easily have stolen the tape at any point before they arrived back at the hotel. She could be playing a game within a game.

But why? What could she have to gain by leaking information? Why would she involve the team if she were? Jenny certainly didn't seem to suspect anything, and Gibbs' gut hadn't picked anything up. Surely they would have an idea if she were up to something.

Ziva sighed. She had been considering this all night, and had ended up going round in circles. Perhaps she should discuss this with her partner…

* * *

"Why are you going after your father?"

Lily had absolutely no idea how the conversation had turned to this. In an effort to defuse some of the tension in the hotel room, she had struck up a conversation with Tony. The banter had calmed her down, and relaxed everyone else. As usual, it hadn't lasted.

Tony had thrown a curveball.

And a good one at that.

She had expected LJ or Jenny to call her on it the moment she had explained Operation Lazarus, but they had stayed silent. Evidently they knew that she had no intention of opening up about some things. Somewhere down the line, they had learnt to trust her judgment.

Even if it had a tendency to become clouded sometimes.

Charlie had tried everything in his attempts to talk her out of the mission. She had ignored everything he said. She was already in too deep and she couldn't see a way out. As always, she would see it through to the end.

"You've got to have a reason."

She scanned the room rapidly and realized that everyone was waiting for her response. Not good.

"It's personal," she replied.

Tony chuckled and leant back. "I'm not sure what my father would have to do to make me chase him all over Europe, but it would have to be something pretty big."

Lily wondered whether she should bother rising to the challenge or just walk out. The only downside to the latter was that the others would not give up now. It was easier to let it come out into the open.

"Remember I told you that I literally walked into my father one day?"

Tony nodded.

"I didn't tell you what happened next."

She paused for a moment, working out how best to explain herself.

"He wanted to meet up with me later in the day. I'd had a… bad experience just before I found him and was in a bit of a daze. I agreed to meet him in the bar of one of the local hotels."

She decided not to tell them about the bad experience. They didn't need to know about Edwards.

"You agreed to meet with someone who was supposed to be dead and had been under investigation?" Tony sounded incredulous.

"I've done worse. Did I mention I was in a daze? If I'd been thinking straight, I would have taken him into a side alley and killed him."

"Why?"

"He disgraced the family name. I was put under investigation myself, in case I had been working with him. I was lucky that my career was still in one piece."

"What happened next?"

"I didn't go to the meeting."

"I thought you said –"

"I sent a small group of SEALs in instead."

"Ah."

On the other side of the room, Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"I guess he didn't take it well," Tony continued.

"Got it in one, Einstein," Lily told him. "Somehow or other, I never quite figured how, he managed to escape. He knew what I had done though."

"Cool story, but it still doesn't explain –"

"It started a tit for tat game."

Tony looked bemused.

"I try to kill him, he tries to kill me. That's how we proved he was still alive."

"What have you tried?"

"More car bombs than I care to remember, a few other assorted explosions, hired killers, and a few others, included several more SEAL raids."

"I'm not sure I want to know the answer, but what has he tried on you?"

"Similar. Car bombs, snipers, missiles, drive-by shootings. He likes the odd poisoning attempt. I was vomiting blood for three days when he managed to give me ricin. I was certain I was going to die."

"Ricin?"

"If it does the trick… I've never tried poisoning, I have to confess. Not him, anyway. I prefer to off someone quickly."

"He gave you ricin?"

Lily looked at him for a moment. "He betrayed me, I betrayed him. It's not going to stop until it does."

"What does that mean?"

"Until one of us is dead or in prison."

"You really think that you can't make peace?"

"After all we've done to each other in the last six years? Not a chance. He tried to have my son bought to him. That's unforgivable."

"Son?!"

She smirked at the look on his face. "I think you might have met him. Jasper Thompson is the name he tends to go by."

"Jasper? You've got to be kidding me."

"You ever figure out where he knows you from?"

Tony thought for a minute. "Did you show him a picture or something?"

"He used to spend the night with his aunt sometimes. Once, he had a nightmare, so he went downstairs to get a drink. He told me that he saw you leaving Aunt Jenny's study with a file in your hands. I'm guessing it was on Jeanne. He didn't think he'd been seen so he went back to bed."

"I've… I've… I've spent ages trying to figure out how I could have forgotten him, and it turns out that I never even _saw_ him!"

She giggled. "He's smart. He recognized you and knew that you would look after him."

"I don't believe this," Tony continued to splutter.

Her laughter persisted. This was priceless.

"If you're suddenly being so honest," Jenny piped up. "Why did you switch my pills?"

Lily considered. "Oh, what the heck. I figured that Dad might be less likely to aim a missile at us if he's expecting grandchildren."

"Seriously?"

"He's never gone for my son. It should stop a few car bombs and the like."

"Hang on; you switched my pills _to avoid a car bomb! Are you insane?_"

"I wasn't planning on telling the little blighters, but yes."

Lily watched as her sister stormed off. Maybe she just needed a little time…


	18. Postcard 2

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Erm, I don't own the writing on the postcards. If anyone can work out where the team are going after this, I will be very impressed! I've always wanted to try my hand at Gemcity..._

Chapter 18: Postcard 2

Tony DiNozzo was officially fed up. This mission was going nowhere fast. Since the debacle at the Colosseum, they had barely left the hotel.

Well, Jenny and Gibbs had gone for long walks every day, but the rest of them had barely left.

And Lily had wandered off on a few nights and not returned until daybreak.

Strange disappearances of the extended Shepard clan aside, everyone else was starting to develop cabin fever. It was compounded by knowing that someone was a traitor.

Tony wasn't wasting his energy in trying to work it out. Gibbs would figure it out and murder whoever was responsible. Or Lily would. Either way, it wasn't his problem.

He glanced around the room again. Everyone was present, slumped in their seats and trying not to doze off. It was amazing how stress made you sleepy.

And hungry.

Even ignoring Jenny's cravings, which had led to her sister searching for food in the middle of the night, the team had been ordering far more food than normal.

John was handing out the mail, as usual. He was now resorting to handing the entire pile to Jenny and letting her sort it out.

The redhead leafed through, before passing a postcard to Lily. Lily read it briefly.

"Pack," she ordered, dropping the postcard on the nearest table. "I'm booking tickets to Spain." She was out the door before anyone could think of a comeback.

Tony sidled over and picked up the mysterious postcard. His curiosity deepened when he read it.

"What does it say?" Ziva asked.

He read it aloud.

"Non devi essere speciale, "io ti amo" è sempre uguale  
Lo puoi dire come vuoi, sei da solo, con i tuoi  
E qui non esistono frontiere, l'amore non ha barrier  
In città o in campagna, lo stesso in Spagna"

"In English," Gibbs demanded.

"I love Italian, boss," he grinned.

"I don't give a damn. Translate."

"Baring in mind that this is only a rough translation…"

He read the postcard again.

"You do not need to be special; "I love you" is always the same  
You can say it as you like it, either alone or with your folks  
And here there are no frontiers, love is boundless,  
In the city or in the countryside, it's the same in Spain."

"Okay," McGee piped up. "I get why we're going to Spain, but who writes like that?"

"You, Probie. How's the masterpiece coming along?" Tony queried.

McGee ignored the jibe. "The last postcard and this one both read like love poems."

"To avoid detection?" Ziva offered.

"Does it matter?" Jenny questioned. "As long as the postcards are accurate, I don't care what they say or who sends them."

"You could ask her," Tony suggested.

"Tried," she replied. "She refused to tell me."

"Great. So we are taking the word of someone completely unknown."

"The last postcard worked. Maybe this one will too."

* * *

Jenny wondered, not for the first time, why Lily didn't bother to book better seats. She presumed it had something to do with saving money, but it was getting annoying.

The entire plane journey had been hellish.

In her rush to get them to Madrid, Lily had booked the first flight that she could. This turned out to be a budget airline, with incredibly small seats and no room. Not the best option for a pregnant woman.

It had taken three hours before the plane was cleared to take off. Three hours when they hadn't been allowed to leave the plane. The attendants had refused to serve any food, claiming that they weren't permitted to while they were still on the tarmac, until Lily had snapped and ordered them to feed everyone on national security grounds. Jenny had never been more relieved that every single gun between them was in the hold.

When they were at last airborne, the problems hadn't stopped. Sitting next to the wing, Jenny had had an excellent view of the 'minor engine trouble' that plagued them towards the end of the flight. She wasn't entirely sure how an engine fire could be classed as 'minor', but had gripped Gibbs' hand so hard that she had left a bruise.

Now they were standing outside their new hotel.

It was a big house, situated on the outskirts of the capital. It had three floors, with massive windows everywhere. It also had extensive gardens, containing several water features and an array of flowers. Gravel paths weaved throughout, and there was a large outdoor swimming pool.

Considering the heat, she had a funny feeling that the pool was going to be used a lot.

Jenny followed her sister inside a huge wooden door.

"Buenas tardes. ¿Tiene alguna habitación libre?" Lily asked the man at the desk.

"Sí," came the reply. "¿Qué tomarán?"

"Quisiéramos cuatro habitaciones contiguas."

"Sí. ¿Su nombre, por favor?"

"Señora Shepard."

"Usted llamó antes. Es clasificado."

"Muchas gracias"

Lily took the keys and headed for the nearest flight of stairs.

"You speak Spanish?" Ziva asked her.

"A tiny bit."

"I would not call that a tiny bit."

"My job has taught me enough to get by. I can book hotel rooms, not have a general conversation."

Lily stopped in front of a door and began to hand the keys out. Jenny took hers gingerly.

"Are you sure that this place is okay?" she queried.

"I've used it a few times, and never had any problems. Oh, that's a lie: do not under any circumstances stay in the shower for longer than five minutes because the water will become freezing. Other than that, everything's great."

She watched as Lily let herself into her room, Charlie following.

The rest of the team fell into their familiar duos. Gibbs shifted the suitcases into the room while Jenny looked around again.

It was actually very nice. There was a mahogany desk along on wall, with a matching chair. A long, thin mirror hung by the bedside. A gigantic chest of drawers was on the other side of the room, the top of which was covered in snacks, a coffee machine, and a number of mugs.

She sank down onto the bed and closed her eyes.

It didn't last. A soft scraping at the door was their only warning before Lily entered.

"Please can you _knock_ next time," Gibbs complained, lowering his gun.

Lily grinned back. "I love it when I get you to say 'please'."

He glared at her.

"Why are you here?" Jenny inquired, her eyes still shut.

"Charlie has a few contacts in the area; he's gone to find them. I just ran into Ziva in the corridor, and she told me that John was doing the same."

"What's Ziva doing in the corridor?"

"Wants to do a few laps of the pool. I saw Tony sneaking off after her, with a camcorder. Think we might be refereeing a fight later."

* * *

_Lil Tipford, the sexy and mysterious CIA agent, locked the postcard in her safe before leaving the room. Agent McGregor knew that this would be his only opportunity to solve the puzzle of the postcards._

_He emerged from behind the curtains and raced over to the safe, spinning the dial around. Try as he might, he couldn't get in._

_He heard the sound of a key in the lock. He stood up and looked for a place to hide…_

_There was nowhere to run._

_Lil walked inside and looked at him. "What are you doing in my room?" she inquired._

"_Officer Lisa told me that you needed some help moving the furniture around," he lied, recalling Rule Seven: Always be specific when you lie._

"_Officer Lisa has her hands full with Agent Tommy down the hall," she told him. "How kind of you to offer to help me."_

"_It would be my pleasure," he reassured her._

"_You really are overdressed for this kind of work," she purred. _

_Slowly, she made her way over to him._

"_Surely you do not need to wear a tie in this heat," she teased, her fingers stroking the fabric._

_He could smell the expensive perfume that she wore as she remained in his space. It was heavenly; something that he had never smelt before but seemed to sum her up perfectly._

_Her nimble fingers toyed with his tie before removing it carefully and tossing it onto the floor. He sighed as she nuzzled his neck. She began to leisurely undo the buttons on his favorite shirt. Her emerald eyes sparkled as she gazed up at him. He gave in to temptation and leant in to kiss her…_

McGee stopped reading and tried to work out where he was going next. To be honest, he wasn't sure that he should continue writing. If Lily disliked where he was taking this, she would almost certainly start tormenting him.

She had told the team about her pursuit of Vance. She had been incredibly matter-of-fact about it, as though it had meant nothing to her. He did not intend to intentionally cross her in the near future.

Perhaps she would like it. He debated whether or not to show it to her. It might help his writer's block. Currently, he couldn't continue the scene as he was panicking about what she would do to him.

Yes, he would find her and ask for her help. He only hoped that she would like it.


	19. A Raid

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! _

Chapter 19: A Raid

Ziva David quietly watched the morning interactions. As usual, John handed out the mail, Tony lolled against the wall, McGee checked his email, Gibbs sipped his coffee, Charlie flipped over a page of his book, Jenny rested her head on Gibbs' shoulder, and Lily had her eyes closed.

Nothing new there then.

Ziva could not understand the sudden rush to Madrid. The information provided was not solid, it had not been checked or verified, and the source was unknown. Surely they could have waited in Rome for a few days.

Instead, they had charged immediately towards Spain.

At least she could speak Spanish, as could Tony. It made them less reliant on Lily, which could only be a good thing.

'_Mornings really are similar_', she mused. Presumably, it had something to do with everyone still being half-asleep and sticking to a routine until they woke up properly.

John cleared his throat loudly and everyone roused themselves to look at him.

He was dressed in the most casual clothes Ziva had ever seen on him. Even when posing as a tourist, the man managed to look smart and professional. Now, he was wearing a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt.

"I have a lead," he announced proudly.

"Wow," Lily teased. "I thought I was the only one who came up with those."

He glared at her.

"Do continue," Jenny soothed.

"My source tells me that Jasper Shepard is staying in a villa about fifty miles outside Madrid."

Lily sat up straight. Evidently, this was news to her, and good news at that.

"How sure are they?" she asked.

"Very sure," he replied. He placed a few satellite images on the table; everyone crowded around.

"We could go in at several different places," Gibbs offered. "The trees will provide good cover."

"I doubt the trees were planted for that reason," Jenny muttered.

Ziva stared at her.

"She means," Lily jumped in, "That the security system will be first-rate and we will have to be aware of that."

"McGee can deal with the security system," Gibbs informed her. "A two pronged attack, perhaps? Or should we do a three?"

"Eight does not divide into three," Ziva pointed out.

"Seven doesn't divide easily, but if we leave McGee to deal with the security, it'll even the numbers out more."

"Seven?"

Lily glared at him. "You wouldn't, LJ."

"I would," he warned her.

"Would someone please explain what's going on!" Tony exclaimed.

Jenny took mercy on him. "Agent Gibbs thinks that it would be a good idea if I remained behind."

"You two have discussed this?" John questioned.

"No, but Lil can read Agent Gibbs fairly well, and I know what she's thinking."

John scoffed.

"I think we should leave you behind." Charlie made his first contribution.

"I do not need to be –" Jenny started to protest.

"JL, just stay behind," Lily pleaded.

"I am perfectly capable of functioning in the field."

"I know. Please, just trust me."

The sisters exchanged looks, before Jenny nodded.

"Fine. For the record, I'm doing this under protest," she warned.

"Fine. For the record, stop dipping into my secret stash of chocolate. It's getting annoying."

Everyone shared grins. Lily had a secret stash of chocolate?

* * *

Gibbs stealthily made his way through the trees surrounding the villa. John and Tony were by his side. He felt like he was back in the Marine Corps again, and it felt good.

Jenny was safely confined back at the hotel. Gibbs had had to reassure her before he had left that he was coming back. He deliberately had not told her about his niggling gut feeling, knowing that it would only worry her. He had told Lily at the first possible opportunity, and she had confessed that something felt off.

They had consciously taken separate groups. Gibbs had decided to put at least one of his team with each group, knowing that McGee would remain behind in the minibus. He didn't know how Lily had managed to get hold of a Ford Transit V347, and didn't want to ask.

Lily had demanded to take Charlie with her, and Gibbs had chosen to give her Ziva as well. He felt that the Israeli would be alert enough to notice if either of them tried to pull something unexpected off.

And he was expecting the unexpected.

If Lily was the mole, she would pull something pretty spectacular. Charlie and John were still unknown players for the moment, although John had given them the intelligence.

All he could do now involved staying out of the way, and protecting his team.

Gibbs crept through the trees, shaking his head as he did so. Who was egotistical enough to plant _palm trees_ every five feet? He couldn't believe that the sisters had come from his man. Well, on a bad day he could easily see Lily's paternity. But Jenny didn't seem to display his characteristics.

Every now and then, he crossed over a crazy paved path, and he came across the odd pond as well. The grounds were simply huge. They had all examined the satellite images extremely carefully before they had left the hotel. No one wanted to get lost.

"Alarms have been deactivated," McGee's voice hissed in his ear. Yet another thing that Lily had pulled off. Somehow, she had got her hands on a communications set. The fact that it worked out here was nothing short of a miracle.

"Roger that," he heard Lily whisper back.

"Understood," he replied.

"Do you have any way of knowing what's ahead?" Lily asked, keeping her voice low.

"More palm trees?" Gibbs growled. If he ever saw another one again, it would be too soon.

"I can see the back of the villa," she continued, ignoring him. "Can you tell how many guards there might be, Agent McGee?"

"No way of knowing," the younger man told her.

"LJ, can I have your ETA?" she inquired.

"Maybe another two minutes," he guessed. The terrain was tougher than he had expected and it was slowing them down.

"Get a move on," she urged. "I haven't got all day."

"Shut up," he ordered. "Keep the airways clear."

"If you're not here in the next ninety seconds, I'm going to raid this place single-handed."

"Patience never was your strong suit," he remarked, speeding up as he did so. He couldn't be sure that Lily was bluffing…

Out of nowhere, a man dressed in camouflage gear popped up in front of him.

"Oh, shi –"

* * *

For a second, Lily froze when she heard the gunfire.

Damn.

Then her earwig roared to life.

"One hostile down," LJ informed her.

The villa had rapidly become a hive of activity. A large group of gunmen were in the process of charging out the door towards the previous noise, while others, carefully camouflaged, popped out of nowhere and began to move.

"Great big bunch of hostiles heading your way," she warned. "Abort, this is obviously a trap."

"Thanks for the heads up," LJ replied. She could hear him moving rapidly through the trees, all attempts at stealth abandoned.

"We'll meet you at the Transit," she told him, motioning for her team to start moving. They had a shorter route to travel, but LJ was being pursued and if they remained quiet, there was a good chance that the teams would arrive at the same time.

Her team crept back through the trees. Every now and then, they paused to allow another gunman to run past them. Clearly, the place had been swarming in them earlier, and they had been incredibly lucky not to have encountered any.

Incredibly lucky and incredibly rash.

Someone had tipped them off. And, for the life of her, she couldn't work out who.

She continued to run. How could this possibly get any worse?

"We're almost at the minibus," LJ warned her. "Another thirty seconds."

Okay, this could get worse. They were at least three minutes away, even if they ran flat out. LJ was being chased and had to get away.

Decisions, decisions.

"Go without us," she ordered.

"What?"

"We're not going to make it in time. Just go, we'll catch up with you."

"Good luck," he murmured.

She heard him reach the vehicle, and McGee pulled away nicely, leaving her team behind. They had yet to be spotted by the gunmen; her father had presumably hired a rubbish lot.

Sometimes you had to be grateful for the small things in life.

How were they going to get out? The best option that she could think of involved hot-wiring a vehicle and making a run for it. Unfortunately, she hadn't seen any vehicles on the road they had used to come in and she didn't fancy a long trek back to the villa to break into the garage.

Breaking into the garage though would be a good move. Everyone would be looking in the other direction. It was the key to sleight of hand; everyone looked one way while something occurred elsewhere. Even if her father was really in the villa, he seriously wouldn't expect her to go back there…

They reached the road as another vehicle roared it. What was going on?

Jenny sat behind the wheel of it. "Get in," she yelled.

Lily wasn't going to argue. She fired off a few rounds to act as a cover while she jumped in. She felt rather than saw Charlie and Ziva follow.

Jenny gunned the engine and raced down the road.

Lily leant back in her seat. Where had the day gone wrong?


	20. Videotape and Arguments

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Hope everyone enjoys the forthcoming argument!_

Chapter 20: Videotape and Arguments

McGee watched as Lily booked them into another hotel.

After the shootout that afternoon, the two groups had managed to meet up at a safe point that Gibbs and Lily had decided on previously. The CIA agent had immediately pointed out that they couldn't return to their previous hotel, as obviously someone had tipped Jasper Shepard off.

Charlie and Ziva had therefore been dispatched to their old hotel to retrieve everyone's belongings as quietly as they could. Tony had asked to go as well, until The Director had inquired whether he would really be packing or just going through certain people's underwear.

John had appeared to be on the verge of exploding at someone, while Gibbs had spent a lot of time clenching his jaw. Only Lily appeared to be calm, but McGee had started to realize that she was good at hiding her feelings.

Until she opened her mouth. He suspected that when she finally did, she would begin screaming at everyone.

It all came down to a leak. One mole hidden among them. Someone had told Jasper Shepard where they were going and what they were doing.

It did not bode well for the rest of the mission.

The hotel that Lily had chosen reminded McGee of the hotel in Rome. It blended in perfectly with its surroundings, although it did have a sign out the front.

The building was seven storeys high, and a strange sort of cream color. It was in the middle of a row of terraced buildings. Balconies ran around the upper floors, offering a wonderful view of the city.

The man on the front desk looked like an extra from Constantine. McGee suddenly wished that Tony had been allowed to collect their belongings from the other hotel, if only so that he wouldn't bring this up. Constant movie references were capable of getting up anyone's nose, and now wasn't the best time to further irritate anyone.

He watched as Lily continued to negotiate with the man. Her voice was low enough that they couldn't hear her, and the horror movie extra was also keeping quiet. He guessed they were trying to settle on a price for the rooms, and wanted nothing more than for the argument to end so he could curl into bed. It had been a long day.

Finally, Lily reached into her top and withdrew a wad of bills. She placed them on the counter without bothering to count them and hissed something at the other man. McGee decided that he didn't want to know what she had said; it was probably extremely threatening.

At last, they moved towards the stairwell. Yet again, Lily had picked rooms on the top floor. McGee wondered if she knew about his fear of heights and was doing it on purpose. He didn't think she did; she seemed to like him and usually made her malicious actions more obvious.

"Everyone in my room in ten minutes," Gibbs ordered before they all split up.

McGee hoped he could have a quick nap before their meeting.

* * *

"Someone set us up."

Jenny looked up at Lily's comment. Her sister was amazingly calm, considering what had happened earlier. She wondered whether Lily had played some role in the trap, before dismissing it. She could always tell when her sister was hiding something, and there was nothing secret today.

The tension in the room was unbearable. The entire team was gathered together. Someone had leaked the information, someone had almost gotten them all killed. And it could be anyone…

"It could have been any one of us," Charlie pointed out.

He also seemed calm. Jenny guessed this was because he had been partnered with Lily for so long and it would take a lot to worry him.

Personally, she thought that this counted as a lot.

"He knew we were coming," Lily added. "He'd managed to hire goons."

"That would imply a few days advance knowledge," Ziva piped up.

Tony looked confused.

"It takes time to hire gunmen," Jenny offered. "Which means that he knew before we knew."

"Could he just have been using them as security, and not been expecting us?" Tony questioned.

"Unlikely. We know there's a leak. We ran into a trap. Logically, he was expecting us."

"What if it was just a coincidence?"

"Do I believe in coincidences, DiNozzo?" Gibbs growled.

"No, boss. But you do believe in bad luck."

Gibbs cocked his head to the side for the moment. "How much bad luck does it take to get us into this mess?"

"A lot," Ziva guessed.

"Hey, Lily," Gibbs called. "Slaughtered any young children recently?"

She glared at him.

"So it's not bad luck," he pointed out. "Someone set us up."

"It could have been any one of us," Jenny noted.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"Well, it could have been! We've ascertained that someone leaked the information, the next job is to work out who. Unless someone wants to confess now, or anyone has spotted anything odd lately, it could have been any of us."

"Okay." Lily took charge. "Has anyone spotted anything out of place? Something that might point to our mole?"

John spoke up. "McGee could have stolen the tape of the encounter at the Colosseum."

"You had more of an opportunity to steal it!" McGee yelled, clearly annoyed at being fingered.

"I _know_ I didn't steal it, and that leaves you!"

"Why would I steal it? You had hours to remove the tape and I had five minutes! I didn't even ask to be put with you!"

"Exactly! You barely know how to talk to a woman, so it was obvious that you were going to end up partnered with a male. You just waited your turn."

McGee started to splutter.

"And you only needed five minutes to remove the tape! If I was the mole, I'd have accidently broken the camcorder or something, not removed the tape."

"Removing the tape would move the suspicion away from you." Tony came to his friend's defense. "McGee's been working with us for years; we barely know you. It's not in his nature to do something like that. He would have wiped the tape before Abby got it, not stolen it."

"Can we shut up about the tape?" Lily waded in again. "We always go in circles on it. Has anyone spotted anything that took place _after_ the tape incident?"

* * *

Gibbs was focusing not on the accusations and counter accusations, but on the body language of the accusers. He wasn't too fussed with what they were arguing about – it had all been discussed previously in hushed whispers – but was curious as to what people were hiding.

McGee was indignant at being accused. Privately, Gibbs agreed. The agent wouldn't steal a tape when he could damage it or doctor it.

He was pleased that DiNozzo had come to McGee's defense. Tony seemed angry that anyone could threaten his friend. He might tease the younger man, but he was loyal.

John… John was interesting. He was fiercely accusing anyone and everyone. Was he trying to divert suspicion away from himself, or was he trying to locate the mole?

"I spotted something," John told everyone.

"Go on then," Lily urged.

"We left Jenny behind."

"I remember that."

"So how did she manage to show up in the nick of time?"

'_Damn_,' Gibbs thought. He had been slightly surprised that no one on his team had mentioned that yet.

"Unless," John pointed out. "She is the mole."

Instantly Jenny grabbed Lily.

It was a good thing too. Lily had gone for her gun and looked completely murderous. Gibbs knew that Lily could be a little rash sometimes, and he wasn't stupid enough to accuse Jenny of something in front of Lily. Especially not something of this magnitude.

"In case you hadn't noticed," Lily hissed, her voice laced with venom, "_you_ gave us that lead."

"I trust my source," he countered.

"Can we trust you? You gave us the lead that led us into that trap."

"Your partner was out that night as well. How do you know that he wasn't passing information on?"

"Hey!" Charlie protested.

"Enough," Gibbs roared. This argument had gone on for too long.

The room fell silent.

Gibbs lowered his voice. "Like Jenny said, any one of us could have leaked that intel."

"You're only agreeing with her because you're sleeping with her," John argued.

Gibbs ruthlessly quashed the desire to shoot him; Lily would derive far too much pleasure from it. "We are supposed to be a team. A team cannot function if it is falling apart at the seams."

"We have a leak," John all but shouted. "We need to find it and deal with it, the sooner the better. How are we supposed to work as a team if someone is destroying us from within?"

Gibbs did not bother to reply to him; instead turning to Lily.

"Find that leak," he ordered. "Plug it. Permanently."


	21. Postcard 3

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I am intrigued with the suggestions for who the mole might be - please keep them coming! I'm not sure if Gibbs can speak Spanish or not, but for the purposes of this chapter, he doesn't._

Chapter 21: Postcard 3

Tony DiNozzo was frustrated.

Not 'I've had a bad day' frustrated, but 'I've been coped up in a hotel room in a foreign country for the last twenty days with nothing to do' frustrated.

He had spent a lot of time with Lily. It had taken him a few days to see her as a mother, and he had been as surprised as everyone else when he had continued to flirt with her. She might be a mother, and therefore not fit into the mould of his other 'conquests', but she had something about her.

He wasn't sure what it was. She seemed to enjoy most of his filthy jokes, and she gave as good as she got when he harassed her. Unlike Ziva, she didn't threaten to kill him every five minutes.

One memorable afternoon, he had walked into her hotel room unannounced. He had been stunned to see her crying softly. After a bit of persuasion, she had admitted to missing her son. She couldn't call him because she thought that her father might be able to trace her. They had ended up choosing a postcard from the small collection hidden in her suitcase, and Lily had snuck out one night to mail it.

Lily had snuck out at other times too. Although they were supposed to remain in the hotel to avoid further detection, she seemed to disregard the order and spent more nights away from the hotel than she spent in it. Oddly enough, she was always back before daybreak. She had even told him that if she wasn't, he should call her boss at the CIA and get backup sent out immediately.

She was being very careful to prevent John from finding out about her little jaunts. The MI6 agent had spent the time in the hotel watching everyone like a hawk. Tony supposed it was his normal reaction to being threatened by something unknown.

There had not been a repeat of the argument again. Everyone seemed to have silently agreed to not mention it, but the tension was certainly there. Even Lily had been affected by it. She had organized a 'girls only night' in Gibbs' room, presumably picking the location to annoy the boss. From what Tony had managed to get out of Ziva, the night had involved Lily sharing her secret chocolate stash, several pints of ice cream, and watching _Dirty Dancing_.

Tony hadn't quite decided if he wanted to be a fly on the wall or if he wanted to run away as far as possible.

"I wanna go home," he groaned.

He was in Gibbs' room, waiting for the daily briefing. Since the shootout, it hadn't changed a bit. Not everyone was present yet; only the NCIS agents were there.

"I'd love to be able to go out in the fresh air," McGee noted, next to him. "I'm fed up with sticking my nose out of a two inch gap in the window."

"We have no leads," Ziva chimed. "Unless we can leave this hotel, we are not going to get any either."

Gibbs looked up from the file he was perusing. "If everyone gave up at the first hurdle, nothing would ever get done," he pointed out. "Something will come up."

* * *

Ziva David watched as John stormed into the hotel room.

"Briefing was supposed to start half an hour ago," Gibbs complained.

"Lady at the front desk took forever to find the mail," the Brit shot back. He flung it in Jenny's general direction and slumped down into the nearest chair.

Ziva did not bat an eyelid. John's temper had been getting steadily worse. He seemed to be suffering from cabin fever a lot more than the others were.

In Mossad, she was used to long operations that required patience. She was used to sitting around for long periods of time in cramped quarters with very little to do. She was used to the constant danger.

She was not used to working on an operation with incredibly little intelligence. They had been at a standstill since the firefight and she longed for action. She needed something to do, but, for now at least, she was controlling herself.

Jenny had been helping. Her friend had come up with ideas and games to occupy the two of them. Lily had sometimes joined in, although she was spending a lot of time with Tony.

That was something Ziva disliked.

Tony seemed fond of Lily, and was growing close to her. To Ziva, this was a slap in the face. Lily was the spitting image of Jenny, and she could never imagine Jenny flirting with a man that she herself liked.

She could not understand how Tony was still lusting after Lily. He now knew that she was a mother, and she was definitely older than he was. She was not his type at all! But for some strange reason he liked her.

It was very confusing.

"You've got another postcard," Jenny remarked to her sister, tossing it to the other side of the room.

Lily caught it easily. "Russia," she announced, placing it on the bed and walking out.

"Not Russia," Tony moaned. "It's the middle of November; it's going to be absolutely freezing."

"Maybe he chose Russia to annoy us," Charlie teased.

"Maybe her source is feeding her false information," John suggested.

Tony reached over and snatched up the postcard. He pulled a funny face.

"What?" McGee asked.

"This one's even worse than the last one," Tony smirked.

"Read it."

"Por todo el mundo, "te quiero" es lo mismo  
Cada día y cada noche solo tú me das amor  
Aquí está mi sol, te lo doy, todo lo que soy  
Si te vas, te buscaré en Rusia se."

"In English," Gibbs ordered.

"Come on, boss. Everyone should speak Spanish."

"DiNozzo!"

Ziva decided to end the argument before it got worse.

"For the whole world, "I love you" is the same,  
Every day and every night, it is only you who gives me love  
Here is my soul; I am giving it to you, everything that I am,  
If you leave, I'll search for you in Russia," she translated.

"Tony's right," Jenny piped up. "This one is definitely more sickly sweet than the last one."

* * *

Gibbs breathed in the cold morning air. They had been travelling all night, and had finally arrived.

As usual, Lily had booked the first possible flight to get them to their new destination. This time, she had managed to arrange first class tickets. Their seats had been huge and incredibly comfortable. DiNozzo had pushed his chair as far back as it could possibly go, before promptly falling asleep.

Ziva had also chosen to rest her eyes, although she hadn't bothered to put her chair back. McGee had spent most of the journey scrawling in his notebook. Gibbs was beginning to dread the next Gemcity novel.

Lily had decided to do something different. She had persuaded the flight attendant to give her as much bourbon as possible, which meant that she had been blind drunk before they had even entered Russian airspace. Neither sister could hold their liquor well, and Lily had certainly been pushing her limits. He was anxious about what would happen when her hangover kicked in. He made a mental note to ask Jenny to sit with her until she recovered.

The bit that was puzzling him was _why_ she had chosen to drink to excess. She was a professional; she was on a mission, she was working and she wouldn't normally do such a thing. The only thing he could think of was that something was bothering her.

And he doubted it was the leak.

Lily wouldn't let a simple thing like a leak bother her so much. It was something else, something she was hiding.

He was starting to discount the notion that she was the mole. Jenny hadn't picked up any hint of it, and Jenny was the expert. Perhaps, for once, she wasn't playing a game.

It would be a first.

Lily lived to play games. Great big complicated things that sucked everyone else in like a whirlpool. Games that required a lot of thinking to figure out.

He sighed, his breath misting in front of him. He didn't have the time to work it out.

Lily was still half-drunk, and muttering strange things as her sister propped her up. About the only useful thing they had managed to get out of her was the address of the hotel they were going to be staying at.

It turned out to be a small, one storey building. It was painted white, with a strange pointy roof. The structure was set back slightly from the main road, and the overall impression that Gibbs got was one of cleanliness.

He also guessed it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else they had stayed so far. Perhaps the CIA had cut the funding a bit.

He guessed that he was going to be the one booking the rooms this time. Only he and Ziva spoke Russian well enough – he didn't count Lily because she was having a hard enough time staying upright, let alone having a polite conversation – and Ziva was on the other side of Lily.

At least this time he might end up in a room with a working shower.


	22. A Short Walk

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Mary, please don't mention Lily's name in a review as you have already hit very close to the mark!_

Chapter 22: A Short Walk

McGee strode down the sidewalk, the icy wind burning the tips of his ears.

They had arrived in Moscow a few days previously. It had taken Lily a day and a half to sober up and lose the hangover. A day and a half of sarcastic comments and a fiery redheaded temper. Gibbs and the Director had deliberately borne the brunt of it, presumably having dealt with her like this before.

After a team discussion that had almost turned ugly, they had managed to ascertain that only Lily and Gibbs had ever visited Moscow before. Gibbs had located a tourist map, and spent an afternoon indicating all the local places that they needed to know about. Lily, in her alcohol-induced state, had asked him very loudly which apartment he had lived in with ex-wife number three. The Director had immediately removed her sister from the room.

John had started to become very secretive. After being accused of leaking by the MI6 agent, McGee had begun to pay more attention to him. In Madrid, John had been openly watching everyone. Now, he had retreated somewhat. He had gone off for a few walks and refused to discuss anything with anyone.

Ziva had tried to get him to open up. She had pushed him considerably until he had admitted to having visited Moscow in the past. He claimed, however, that he did not know the area that they were currently in.

McGee wondered what else he was hiding.

Right now, he didn't care. An hour ago, Lily, now back to normal, had announced to everyone that she fancied a walk. Tony had instantly offered to join her. The daggers that Ziva was glaring at her partner had led to McGee offering to come as well.

He was glad he had.

It was lovely to be outside, with the snow everywhere. Lily and Tony had chased each other for a few blocks before starting an impromptu snowball fight. McGee had found himself joining in. It hadn't lasted long, but it had certainly relieved a lot of tension.

Lily had then mentioned a park a short distance away. She professed that it was incredibly beautiful, with a great lake that would be completely covered in ice at this time of year. They had all decided to have a look.

McGee followed his two friends through the massive iron-wrought gates of the park. The icy wind continued to bite at him. Lily and Tony were a few feet ahead, flirting as usual.

"I like the blonde streaks in your hair," he heard Tony say while running his fingers down them.

She leaned into his touch. "They were an impulse thing," she admitted.

"I thought Jenny did it because Gibbs was dating future ex-wife number four. Why did you do it?"

"I told you, impulse. Jenny got hers done the same time as me, and hers was impulse too. I'm guessing that future ex-wife number four is the same as 'that blonde slut'."

"Jenny called her that?!"

"Nah, I called her that, but I was pretty much summing up what JL told me."

"So what did Jenny call her?"

"She tended to use –"

A whistling sound made her freeze. A split second later, McGee felt a sharp stinging sensation in his right arm.

* * *

"Get down!" Lily yelled, ducking behind a large statue of a man on horseback.

Sniper fire. Damn.

She glanced over at McGee. His jacket sleeve was beginning to stain red.

Blood red.

"Get the jacket off," she ordered. "The cold will numb your wound."

Tony helped her ease him out of the clothing, before she stuck her fingers in, ignoring Tony's wince.

"It's a graze," she soothed McGee. "It's just a graze."

"He needs to hire people with better accuracy," McGee muttered through his gritted teeth. "They only ever seem to graze the arm."

She gave him a tight grin. "To be perfectly honest, I'd rather he keeps on hiring the same idiots. I'm fed up of dodging guys with much better accuracy. And bullets are easier to dodge than car bombs."

"He's not going to use car bombs though," Tony pointed out. "Not if he wants his grandchildren safe."

"He's unhinged," she pointed out. "I wouldn't put anything past him."

"You didn't mention that before."

"I did mention that he gave me ricin. That pretty much sums up unhinged."

She glanced around the area. They had been lucky to get behind the statue; it was the only cover for another five hundred yards. The frozen lake was their path out, but she knew from experience that the ice wasn't yet thick enough. When they plunged through into the sub-zero water, it would kill them just as surely as the sniper would.

She looked around for another option. Nothing.

Time for Plan B. She edged over to the far end of the statue and drew her gun. Carefully, she poked her nose round the corner –

CRACK

She ducked. Okay, the sniper was still there. She now had a fairly good idea of where he was but it didn't matter. He was too far away, and she wasn't prepared to waste all her bullets.

They were trapped.

Luckily, this gave her Plan C.

She crawled back over to McGee's side. Tony was applying pressure to his friend's wound.

"Tony," she ordered. "Call LJ and tell him you need help."

"Why can't you call him?" he whined.

"Because I will never need LJ's help. I am perfectly happy to sit here until the sniper gets bored. If you want out of here, you're going to have to call for help."

* * *

It took nine minutes for LJ to gather the others and come to the rescue. '_Eight minutes too long_,' Lily mused.

She had given Tony the location of the sniper, and he had relayed it to his boss. LJ had stormed into the apartment building across the street and cleared the area. Finally, he had made his way over to them.

"Took you long enough," she complained, dusting the snow from her pants.

"Never happy, are you?" he shot back, turning to McGee. "Do you need a hospital?"

"I'll be fine, boss," McGee told him.

"It's a graze," Lily offered.

LJ ignored her and probed the mark gingerly.

"I'll give him some painkillers when we get back to the hotel," she pointed out.

LJ looked his agent in the eyes. "You tell me if you need to see a doctor," he demanded.

McGee nodded. "Of course."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo watched as the team began to melt down again. Everyone was now safe, so the arguments had recommenced.

Privately, he couldn't see what the shouting would achieve. Unless someone confessed to being the mole, it was only going to lead to friction.

He had been enjoying the walk before everything had spiralled out of control. He had concluded that Lily's hair was silky smooth, and he had spent most of the time behind the statue wanting to run his fingers through it again. He was mildly perturbed by his thoughts. This girl had got under his skin.

Now, Lily had disappeared. She had made sure that everyone was safely back at the hotel before setting off on her own. When Gibbs had tried to stop her, she had threatened to shoot him if he got in her way. Her voice was lined with a cold fury.

Tony guessed she was going to have a little chat with a source or two. By 'little chat', he meant 'long, drawn-out torture session'.

He wanted to go with her. No one shot the Probie and got away with it.

"I don't care!" John's yell broke through his thoughts.

"Will you please calm down, Agent Smith," Charlie ordered.

"You aren't my boss; you can't tell me what to do!"

"If you don't calm down, I'll call your boss and have you sent home."

The room fell into an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. Jenny decided to break it.

"Was this little walk a spur of the moment thing?" she asked Tony.

"You were there when we arranged it," he pointed out.

"I mean, did Lil seem to be following a route? Or was it just random?"

"She recommended the park, said she'd been there before and it was nice this time of year. Why'd you call her 'Lil'?"

"Because I do. So someone could have known about her preference and been lying in wait."

"Who would know about a park? And why don't you call her Lily?"

"Because it's not her name. Perhaps she mentioned it to our father at some point."

"Lily isn't her name?"

"Can we get back on topic?" Gibbs grumbled.

"So what is her name?" Tony questioned.

"Does it matter? Someone just tried to kill you and all you're worried about is her name?!"

"Boss, I'm just saying –"

"I don't care, DiNozzo."

"Do _you_ know her real name?"

Gibbs head-slapped him. "Does it matter? We have more important things to worry about than Lily's real name!"


	23. Park Life

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! _

Chapter 23: Park Life

Jenny shivered as they walked through the park.

She had been surprised to discover that Moscow had so many parks. She had this mental image in her head of Russia being made entirely out of concrete high-rise buildings. Gibbs was doing his best to dispel her of that notion.

Gibbs was being very thoughtful. Her fatigue had all but vanished and she suddenly seemed to be full of energy. Her morning sickness had disappeared, and her weight gain was becoming a lot more obvious.

She would never forget the first time she felt the twins moving. It had just been her and Gibbs in their room, and it had come as a shock. They had spent most of the evening smiling and laughing, while Lily had offered to organize another 'girls only night', this time with nail polish and a copy of _Sleepless in Seattle_.

Jenny was becoming highly amused by Tony's attempts to find out Lily's real name. The last two weeks had been hilarious. He was making a habit of entering the morning briefing and greeting her by a new name every time. He'd started with the obvious – Lillian, Lilianna and Lila – before trying more obscure ones such as Lilka, Lilo and Liliha.

Ziva and McGee had joined in too. The Israeli had suggested Lilach, which was apparently Hebrew for 'You are mine', while McGee had offered Liluye, supposedly Native American for 'singing hawk while soaring'.

The sisters had found the suggestions comical. They seriously doubted that anyone was going to guess it in a hurry and they were not about to stop the fun.

Gibbs had decided to allow the name game to help everyone relax. When Tony had walked into the briefing that morning and tried 'Lilac', everyone had burst out laughing, including Gibbs. She recalled him with tears running down his face and started to giggle.

Gibbs reached over and caught her hand. "Everything okay?" he asked.

She struggled to regain control. Her emotions were still all over the place. "I can't believe Tony tried 'Lilac'. It just –"

"Doesn't suit her in the slightest?" he finished for her, a smile on his face. "When's he going to realize that he can't guess it?"

"I'm not telling him that; I'm enjoying this far too much."

"Wonder what he's going to try tomorrow?"

"Hopefully something random like Sophia."

He chuckled. "That would be good. Does he get the point if he tries Jennifer?"

She considered it. "I suppose so."

They continued to walk. They were in a park where there were regular sightings of The Lone Wolf. He seemed to go for a walk there most Sundays when he was in the area, and Gibbs had allowed Jenny to come with him. She was fed up with being left behind whenever something remotely exciting was about to occur, but Gibbs had decided that a walk in the park would pose no danger whatsoever.

Evidently, he had forgotten about the sniper a few weeks ago.

It didn't bother her. Lily had been adamant that there would be no attempts on her life, simply because of the grandchildren. And she doubted that he would go for Gibbs until he had more information on him.

Jenny had taken this in her stride. Gibbs had been more cautious, but agreed that everyone wandering around the park at the same time was an explosion waiting to happen.

Literally.

Lily's tendency to use explosives came from somewhere. No one wanted to test the genetic/environmental theory in the middle of this mission. Not even Lily herself.

She felt Gibbs tense next to her.

"What?" she queried.

He hushed her. "Tell me you see what I see. 10 o'clock."

Without making it obvious, she glanced over. "I see The Lone Wolf."

"Wonder where he's going?"

"Let's find out."

They shadowed him at a distance through the park. He passed tennis courts and small ponds, not bothering to look around him. He dodged a few bikes, which reminded Jenny of the narrow streets of Kos where motorcycles loved to ride through crowds of people.

Gibbs was trying to work out where he might be heading. So far, he seemed to be aiming for the exit at the very far end of the park. If he remembered correctly, the area only really had apartment blocks. The Lone Wolf wasn't the type of man to live in a dingy apartment, so where else could he be going?

They finally arrived outside one of the shabbiest apartment blocks that Jenny had ever seen. It looked as though concrete had been poured into a mold fifty years ago, and the result had been abandoned since. Perhaps there was a meeting somewhere inside.

"We need backup," Gibbs whispered to her. "I'm calling DiNozzo."

* * *

McGee stared up at the apartment block. Why would The Lone Wolf come here?

Before Gibbs' phone call, he had been engaged in trying to hack the CIA. Tony's fervent desire to find out Lily's real name had, of course, led to betting. As Tony became more and more impatient, McGee had decided to go to an impartial source.

Lily's CIA personnel file.

It had to contain her real name. Somewhere in that file, it would have her real name.

He had hacked her file before, but Gibbs had given him the codename 'Eve' and he hadn't been searching for a name that time. This time he knew what he was looking for.

The problem was that he couldn't locate her file on the system.

He didn't think that she was any good at hacking. She tended to use Gibbs' method of hitting her laptop to make it go faster, which indicated that her technological knowhow was limited. He suspected that she got someone else to deal with computer files most of the time.

Whoever she used, he was good. McGee hadn't been able to get into any file that she had blocked before. His only hope was that she hadn't thought to have it blocked.

He had a funny feeling that he was wrong. If he couldn't even locate the file, he doubted he could open it.

He knew that Ziva was trying a different method. She had asked her sources to get the name for her.

While Tony's main plan was to harass Lily until she caved.

McGee didn't think it would happen any time soon. She was enjoying the guesses too much to put a stop to it.

"Come on, McGeek. What would an arms dealer be doing in a dump like this?"

Naturally, Tony couldn't leave him to his thoughts. "Perhaps he's visiting someone," he offered.

Tony scoffed. "Who?"

"His mother." McGee picked the first thing that came into his head.

"He'd let his mother live in a dump like this? Yeah right."

"Maybe she doesn't want to move."

"Didn't Lily say that his parents were executed?"

McGee cursed himself for not remembering that.

"So it can't be his mother," Tony continued.

"Elderly aunt."

"Why are you so sure that it's a woman, McUseless?"

"I don't know. I can't see a man refusing to do what The Lone Wolf says."

"I don't follow."

"He's rich, right. Why can't he put up whoever he's seeing somewhere better? Unless they are refusing to move. The impression I get from that is a favored female relative."

Tony snorted. "Favored female relative? It's either a business meeting or he's got himself a mistress."

"He's not married."

"His lover, then. He's Russian, we're in Russia, and he's a man. Unlike you, Probie."

"That stopped being funny around the thousandth time you said it."

"Well, it's true."

"Whoa!" McGee ducked into a doorway.

"What?"

"Over there. It's John."

"John?"

"John! Our John. The John who accused me of being a traitor."

"I wasn't questioning who it was," Tony snapped. "I was questioning what he's doing here."

"He hasn't seen us, and Gibbs told us to wait here."

"The boss would have called us if he was sending backup."

"And he's walking down the street on his own."

"We should tail him," Tony decided.

"Are you kidding? We should sit on the apartment."

"John could be off to sell information. No one is supposed to leave the hotel by themselves."

"Lily's been sneaking out for weeks and you haven't told anyone," McGee retorted.

Tony glared at him. "She's not the leak. I know it."

"You're thinking with the wrong head."

He received another glare before Tony slipping out of the doorway and began to follow the MI6 agent.

McGee sighed, but followed.

The route John took was a circuitous one. He glanced over his shoulder a lot, and McGee was certain that he was going to see them. They walked for about a mile, further into the heart of Moscow, until they reached their destination.

It was another apartment block. This one was fancier than the previous one, but the security was still lax. John disappeared into the elevator, and McGee watched as it rose to the third floor.

"Time to call Gibbs," Tony muttered. "We've got him."


	24. Chick Fight

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! You are all probably going to hate me for the cliffhanger, but I am busy writing the most depressing story I have ever come up with. _

Chapter 24: Chick Fight

Lily was furious when she arrived at the apartment block.

She had been rather busy when LJ had called her, he himself annoyed that she wasn't in the hotel. One screaming match later, she had chosen to walk to the location he gave her.

She knew that she wasn't supposed to leave the hotel on her own, but she didn't care. The rule was put in place to stop the leak, and she knew that it wasn't her. Anyway, she couldn't exactly bring anyone else to any meetings with any of her informants. She'd never get any information.

In retaliation, she had resorted to sneaking out. Tony knew about it, but she doubted that he would tell anyone. If he did… she had no qualms about fingering him as the leak.

Part of her knew that laying the blame on Tony was wrong, but she wasn't prepared to give up her chances to go out. Tony liked her and probably wouldn't tell a soul. It wasn't as though she was the only one sneaking out.

Now they were in Moscow, John had been disappearing at the drop of a hat. She had immediately noticed it, although she chose to keep quiet. She hadn't bothered to tail him as she had more important places to be.

Places that would give Tony a heart attack if he found out about.

Jenny and LJ had been spending more time out of the hotel too. They mainly frequented the local parks, which bugged Lily. Because they traveled around as though they were joined at the hip, they were allowed to go out.

Charlie and Ziva had been taking early morning jogs together. This didn't bother Lily in the slightest; as long as Charlie did his job, she didn't mind what he got up to in his spare time.

Out of the eight of them, only Tony and McGee actually spent any substantial amount of time cooped up in the hotel. McGee worked on his next bestseller, which Lily was forcing herself not to take sneak-peeks at, and Tony tried to work out her name.

Like he was going to guess.

Finally she located LJ and stormed over to his side.

"This had better be good," she warned.

"Get up on the wrong side of bed this morning?" Tony teased.

She resisted the urge to murder him with her bare hands. "You could say that. What is going on?"

"We tailed John here. He's not supposed to be out on his own."

"Neither are you," Gibbs pointed out.

"I'm not the one leaking," she retorted. "I'm trying to gather intel and I can't do it with you guys at a 'safe' distance behind me."

"You could take Charlie with you."

"This argument can wait. I refuse to believe that John is the leak."

"Oh really? Why is that?"

"I did very thorough background checks on everyone before we left London. There was nothing in his past that could have led to him passing information."

* * *

Ziva David could hardly believe what she was hearing. John could not be a mole because of a background check?

Had the woman ever heard of a deep cover?

John had practically been caught in the act, and all Lily could do was come up with excuses. It was ludicrous.

Her feelings towards Lily had nothing to do with Tony, she kept telling herself. The two of them had been sharing cozy walks and time together, and McGee had told her that Tony seemed to like playing with Lily's hair.

Tony did not even like redheads. He did not like women older than him. He did not like children.

And yet he continued to flirt with Lily, the opposite to what he liked.

It was unbelievable.

Lily was not an innocent party. She suggested some of the walks, and practically sat on his lap every five minutes. And what kind of woman liked someone playing with their hair?

Jenny had been doing her best to soothe her friend, arguing that Lily did not seriously like Tony. If she did, Jenny claimed, she would not be flirting and teasing but clearly pursuing him. It would be blindingly obvious to the entire world.

Jenny had also pointed out that Ziva did not have a monopoly on her partner's attention. If he wanted to mess around with another woman, he was allowed to.

This did not mean that the Israeli had to like it.

In fact, the only reason that she had not already snapped Lily's neck was because she suspected that Jenny would never forgive her.

How could the CIA agent not see that John could be a traitor? Anyone could feasibly betray his or her country. Someone could be exerting pressure on them, threatening their family or offering substantial amounts of money. That was only if they did not agree with it due to their viewpoint.

They knew very little about John. Ziva had tried to persuade the man to talk, but he had clammed up at every opportunity. It was now becoming clear why. The man was a traitor and had not wanted her to figure it out.

This also explained why he had been nervous lately, and why he had immediately started accusing McGee when the tape disappeared. He had been preserving his cover. Lily's background check had not been conducted well enough.

"If John is the mole, I will eat my hat," Lily declared, still fuming.

Ziva was puzzled. "You are not wearing a hat," she pointed out.

"It's a figure of speech," Tony offered.

"I'll still eat a hat if it turns out he is a traitor," Lily threatened.

"Can I hold you to that?" Ziva asked.

"Of course. What makes you think that he is?"

"Apart from the sneaking off and his attempts to make us think that McGee betrayed us?"

"People hide things for a multitude of reasons. His desire to find the mole is admirable, although perhaps misguided at times."

"Misguided? How could _anyone_ suspect Tim?"

"For the record, I triple checked Agent McGee's file because he is the exact cover that I would use for an op like this."

Ziva saw McGee's ears turn pink.

"I'm not saying that McGee is the mole; I'm saying that anyone could be," Lily clarified.

"Then you have not learnt anything about us in the thirteen weeks we have been working together."

* * *

Gibbs wondered if he needed to jump in between the two women. Both were dangerous, both were prepared to kill, and both were furious. He could understand Ziva's fury, but not Lily's.

Ziva had grown since being in the States. She had learnt how to trust people, proven by her defense of McGee. When McGee had shot that cop almost three years ago, she'd had problems accepting that he could be telling the truth. Now she was arguing that McGee wouldn't leak without even questioning McGee himself.

Lily, on the other hand, had shown up raring for a fight. He knew from the stunts she tended to pull off that she was good enough to spot a well-hidden mole. Unfortunately, she hadn't picked anyone out before now. And if she was championing John, it meant that either she had ruled him out for a particular reason that she was not sharing, or she had worked out who it really was and wasn't sharing that information either.

Neither option was especially good.

He decided to wade in before blood was shed.

"This can easily be solved if we break down the door and catch him in the act," he pointed out.

Lily glared at him, while the others looked relieved.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Tony mumbled. Gibbs hit the back of his head.

"I'm telling you, I doubt John is the leak," Lily argued.

"We can prove it if we break down the damn door," Gibbs told her, matching her glare.

She rolled her eyes but nodded her assent.

They all filed up either side of the wooden door and drew their guns. Gibbs motioned to Jenny that she needed to stay back; he wasn't about to let her or the twins be injured if he could help it.

Tony moved in front of the door and kicked it hard.

It flew open.

Gibbs followed his senior field agent in, glancing around him.

The apartment had a noticeable woman's touch; the whole place was bright pink. The carpet was pink, the couch was pink, the armchairs were pink, even the kitchen table was pink. A pink shelf over a pink fireplace had pink roses in a pink vase. There were pink cushions on the floor, while all the walls had been painted pink.

Tony had frozen in place at the sheer amount of pink everywhere, and Gibbs elbowed him as he went past. He couldn't afford to spare a hand to head-slap him.

The team all stayed still as they tried to work out what was going on. Then they heard it.

A rhythmic knocking against the wall, probably coming from the next room.

The team assembled by the door, taking up the same positions as they had at the outer door. Jenny moved into the kitchen area to stay out of the way.

Once again, Tony moved in front of the door and kicked it down. He wasn't prepared for what he saw…


	25. John Smith

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! This chapter is for everyone who correctly worked out what was happening in the room. _

Chapter 25: John Smith

They stood in the hotel room, surrounding John Smith. Everyone was furious.

Ziva David could hardly believe what she had seen a mere thirty minutes ago. She had not had time to process the images in her head.

The Brit and another woman, who was clearly not his wife. In bed together.

Gibbs had taken one look and walked out, claiming that he needed more coffee. Lily had made it back to the hotel before pouring herself a rather generous amount of bourbon. McGee had turned bright red and covered his eyes, while Tony had smirked. Charlie had muttered something about the British not being as reserved as they used to be. Jenny had missed the whole thing due to being in the kitchen.

Ziva had resisted the urge to shoot him. But only just.

What on earth was he thinking? They were supposed to be on a mission, not consorting with locals. John's behavior had hidden the real mole.

How he thought he could get away with it was unreal. Everyone had been on edge and alert, and had spotted the recent changes in his behavior. He had stopped vigilantly hunting for a leak and become withdrawn and secretive. Surely he could have restrained himself!

"Please," he whispered, the first word he had spoken since Lily had literally dragged him from the apartment. "Please don't tell my wife."

"The last thing we're concerned about right now is your wife!" Gibbs roared.

The boss had definitely taken it badly. Ziva was not sure why, and only Lily seemed to be unsurprised at his fury. She made a mental note to ask her about it later, before remembering that she had stopped talking to the CIA agent.

"She doesn't know," John muttered, looking petrified. "I love her. I don't know what I'd do if she found out."

"You love her but you're sleeping with another woman?!" Gibbs clearly did not believe a word.

"I love them both. I only see Sveta when I'm in Moscow. I can't leave my wife and she can't leave her husband."

If it were possible, Gibbs seemed to become even more irate.

Jenny stepped in. "We don't care about your arrangements. Why didn't you tell us? We've been looking in the wrong direction for the mole."

"I couldn't tell you," John whimpered. "I can't risk my wife finding out."

Ziva was fed up of no one questioning the obvious. "Did you tell Sveta anything about the mission? Even something small?"

"I haven't spoken to her since we left London," he told her. "Not a word."

"What are you thinking, Ziva?" Jenny asked.

"If he told her anything, she could have passed it on to Jasper Shepard. Even if he did not realize it, he could have been the mole."

"I didn't tell her anything!" John protested. "I swear. I've never told her anything about my job."

"Are you certain?" Ziva checked.

"Yes!"

"So you have been lying to her for years?"

"No! I just… we never discussed work."

"Work? So what does she do?"

"She's a professor at the local college. She's not in the intelligence business."

Ziva considered. "She could have a deep cover."

"She's not! I had a friend quietly check her out and I've never given her information. You have to believe me!"

* * *

Lily sipped her bourbon again. She'd already had to refill the glass once, and she had a funny feeling she was going to have to repeat it before this discussion was over.

She knew exactly why LJ had taken the mess of John's affair badly; he'd found his first ex-wife in bed with another man. She doubted that he'd actually loved her, but it was the betrayal that counted.

She had no intention of telling the others, but Jenny had picked up on her concern and dealt with the problem, leaving LJ to fume on his own. To be honest, Lily didn't care right then how infuriated he was.

She was more upset that the other surveillance had been broken.

As far as she was concerned, John had not been the pressing concern when they had abandoned their posts. Orders were orders, even if she didn't always obey them herself. She had to know that if she told them to do something, they would actually do it, not allow themselves to become distracted by something else.

Being disturbed earlier had definitely not helped her mood. In one sense, it had been extremely good, but she was also aware that she could have talked herself out of the situation if need be. Instead, her good day had been ruined so she could walk in on an affair.

She wasn't entirely sure how she had not shot something yet.

She took another few sips of her bourbon before speaking up.

"Exactly why did you break surveillance on The Lone Wolf?" she asked Tony.

"Because we saw John," he answered, looking confused at the change in topics.

"You saw a teammate, so you followed him."

It took him a moment to follow her line of thought. "We have a leak somewhere, and John's behavior had changed. He was wandering around on his own so we tailed him."

"Breaking off the more important surveillance in the process."

"If he was the mole, we wouldn't be having this conversation!" Tony argued.

"You could have called for backup."

"We'd have lost one of them. We made a judgment call."

"We? Or you?"

"Does it matter?"

"What matters," Lily told him, fighting the urge to throw her glass at the nearest wall and storm out, "Is that you broke off what was clearly the more important job to satisfy your curiosity."

"My curiosity has nothing to do with this! How was sitting on an apartment block more important?"

"If it had led us to Jasper Shepard, it would have done wonders! My primary concern here is not the leak; it's finding him. If I can get my hands on him, I don't care if _all_ of you are leaking."

Tony stared at her. From the corner of her eye, she could see Charlie's face, clearly warning her that she was spiraling into obsession.

She bought the glass up to her lips and swallowed the last of the amber liquid, before slamming it onto the table. Lily stormed out of the door, trying not to lose her temper.

* * *

Jenny sat in the unfamiliar waiting room, her head resting on Gibbs' shoulder.

A few days ago, before the whole John fiasco, Gibbs had cornered Lily and told her to arrange another ultrasound. Jenny had found Lily's actions amusing; at first, she had shrugged her shoulders and acted as though she hadn't heard a word. Shortly after Lily had stormed off, Jenny had found a short note on her pillow, giving the time and location of her appointment.

Lily, being Lily, had neglected to give her two hours notice.

Jenny had learnt to take most of this in her stride. Lily had mastered the art of procrastination at a young age. When they were at high school, Jenny had been the one to make sure that they arrived everywhere on time, while Lily had dealt with practically everything else.

It had clearly shaped their routes in later life. Lily had gone into a job where thinking on your feet kept you alive, while Jenny had chosen a path involving patience and planning. And yet they could swap over so easily.

Gibbs shifted slightly in the uncomfortable seat next to her, and she took his hand in hers.

She was so nervous about becoming a mother. Lily had proved that she couldn't cope, and they were so alike that she could almost guarantee that she would experience the same problems. Unlike Lily though, she had people to support her. Gibbs, having been through this before, was helping her out in ways that she didn't expect. Ziva had been using her world-class massage skills to help ease her back. McGee, ever the gentleman, had been opening doors for her and handing her things that she could easily have picked up herself.

Even Tony had been carrying files for her without any prompting.

Gibbs' team were all helping out in their own ways, and she could see Abby and Ducky helping out when she finally got back to the States as well.

Lily had been in a dark place, and had been dealing with everything on her own.

Jenny smiled to herself. She could do this.

"Ms Shepard?" came a voice. She looked up.

A very pale man stood in the doorway, with jet-black hair.

Jenny nodded her head.

"If you could come with me please." His Russian accent was almost completely hidden.

Still holding onto Gibbs' hand, she followed him into a small exam room. She clambered onto the chair in the middle and lay back. Gibbs stayed with her.

"I've seen your records from Italy," the doctor told her. "As a first-time mother, you really should be having scans more often, and more regularly."

Jenny nodded in agreement. She knew that Gibbs would be bringing this up with Lily later on.

"Let's have a look then," the Russian smiled.

She tensed at the cold gel being put on her abdomen and grinned when the image appeared on the screen. The familiar heartbeats filled the room.

"Both twins look good," the doctor muttered, shifting the probe around.

She glanced over at Gibbs, who had a similar smile to hers on his face.

The doctor started to make notes on a clipboard. "I can safely say that you are 21 weeks pregnant," he offered. "At this stage, they should be able to both hear and recognize your voice."

Jenny made a mental note to start talking to her bump.

"They may respond to some types of music as well."

She hadn't known that. She wondered if she could persuade Lily to find some CDs somewhere.

"Congratulations. Everything looks good."


	26. Postcard 4

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Quick word of warning - I don't speak Russian so I am not responsible for any errors. Gah! My server has just gone down (am in a public library to post this) so apologies for any late Review Replies._

Chapter 26: Postcard 4

McGee lay slumped against the wall. He was sitting on the floor in Gibbs' hotel room, a few hours early for the morning briefing. The Director and Gibbs had disappeared for an early morning walk.

Truth be told, few of them were in the hotel that morning. Ziva and Charlie had gone for a jog at 0530, and tended to return a few hours later before hogging the hot water in the showers.

Lily had vanished the night before. McGee had only found out about this when Tony had decided to pull a prank on her. They had broken into her room and only found her partner in there. Charlie claimed to have no idea where she was, and he pointed out that he didn't want to know. Lily was due back in a few minutes; she turned up like clockwork.

Only John, Tony and McGee were left. John had spent the last two weeks sulking after Lily had barred him from leaving the hotel without an escort. He had initially refused, until she had told him that she would shoot him if he messed her around again. Privately, McGee wished that the Brit would lose his voice, as his constant whining had gone past annoying three days ago.

Tony had patched up his argument with Lily after taking advice from Charlie. The CIA agent had suggested that Tony buy a nice assortment of postcards for Lily to send to her son. Tony had gone one better, and managed to arrange a phone call. Lily had been unable to wipe the smile off her face for days, and she and Tony had been spending a lot of time together.

McGee had finally given up hope of hacking Lily's personnel file. Whatever her real name was, she was hiding it well. Tony had run out of suggestions and Ziva had had no luck either.

It was starting to get close to Christmas. It was only a week away, and no one could imagine them getting home before it occurred. Everyone was handling it in different ways. John and Ziva were taking it in their stride, John as he had the opportunity to spend it with his lover and Ziva because she didn't celebrate Christmas.

Charlie had mentioned a few relatives that he wanted to spend time with. It turned out that he had four brothers somewhere in Jacksonville, Florida. Apparently, they used to all meet up for the holidays and hit the town together.

Tony had spent a few days muttering about all the festival movies he would be missing on cable. He was particularly fond of old, black and white seasonal movies, and was decrying the fact that he would miss them all.

Lily was getting harder to read. If he had to hazard a guess, McGee suspected that she wanted to go home to see her son. The Director and Gibbs didn't seem fussed whatever happened.

McGee only wished that he felt the same way.

* * *

Leroy Jethro Gibbs smiled at the woman curled up next to him.

He'd taken Jenny to yet another park not far from the hotel. Lily seemed to have picked a location that was surrounded by them. This one was situated on a narrow strip between two streets, but it went back for miles. There was a large lake in the center of it, populated by geese. Small children spent a lot of time bringing stale loaves of bread and feeding the birds.

Jenny had spotted a bench with a perfect view of nearly the whole place the first time they had visited. They'd spent the last week sitting on it, passing the time comfortably.

He was mindful of the fact that they could easily spend all day cooped up inside their hotel room. Therefore, he spent a lot of time trying to persuade her to come outside and enjoy the fresh air. They were wrapped up warm and sat close together, to conserve body heat. Jenny had tucked her head under his arm and seemed to have fallen asleep.

That was fine by him.

The reason they were out so early was because she'd been having problems sleeping. Every time she was about to drop off, one of the twins started kicking. Together, they had threatened the bump with various things.

The problem, he mused, was that they didn't know the gender. If they were girls, they were not going out until they were thirty anyway. If they were boys, having the soccer ball confiscated should do the trick.

Jenny had pointed out, almost the moment that they knew about them, that identical twins ran in her family. Gibbs had been under the impression that they tended to skip a generation, but she had told him that they were almost certainly identical rather than fraternal. Lily had taken the same view as her sister.

Lily was definitely missing her son. Her disappearances from the hotel were becoming more and more frequent, and she had started to vanish during daylight hours as well. Gibbs was starting to become concerned about her, although she was still messing around with DiNozzo.

He knew that his team were taking the thought of Christmas in a foreign country fairly badly, but he himself wasn't fussed. He would be with Jenny, which was all that mattered to him.

* * *

The briefing was as uneventful as ever, Ziva decided. There had been no new leads, no trace of either Jasper Shepard or The Lone Wolf, and no new ideas. Unless the status quo changed soon, everyone was going to die of boredom.

Jenny was flipping through the mail, as usual, while Lily snored softly next to her. Whatever the CIA agent got up to during her disappearances, it did not involve sleep.

"I think we should start decorating for Christmas," McGee announced. "It'll cheer us all up."

"Speak for yourself," Ziva heard John mutter.

Gibbs shrugged his shoulders. "We could get a small tree up here."

"I can really see the hotel staff putting up with _that_, boss," Tony pointed out.

"Lil can bribe them," Jenny told him, tapping her sister's shoulder.

"Five more minutes," Lily murmured drowsily.

"Up now," Jenny ordered.

"Either I go back to sleep, or I relate the reason you owe me an alarm clock."

"Third option. You've got another postcard."

Lily sat bolt upright and reached for it. Unlike the previous ones, she read it a few times. "France," she declared, handing it back to Jenny and heading out the door.

Jenny picked it up. "I'm not even going to try pronouncing it," she smiled, handing it to Gibbs.

He smirked. "Why not?"

She smacked his arm. "I'll try later then."

Gibbs read it aloud to everyone else.

"Gde-to tam, kto-to tam, teb'a l'ubit, ne zabud'  
Skazhi da l'ubimaya, l'ubi, l'ubi ty men'a  
Gde by ty ne nahodilas', gde b ne pobyvala  
Budu zhdat', l'ubimaya, segodn'a i vsegda."

"Boss, translate please," Tony requested.

"Somewhere there, somebody loves you, don't forget,  
Say "yes", my darling, and love me.  
Wherever you are, wherever you might go,  
I'll be waiting for you, my love, now and forever."

Everyone took a few moments to contemplate it.

"But it does not say where we should go," Ziva pointed out.

"Give it here." Jenny took the postcard back from Gibbs. She scanned it briefly and smiled.

"What?" Tony queried.

"It does say," she smiled.

"No it doesn't."

"Not in the text."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo stared up at the new hotel. The plane journey to Paris had been one that he'd rather forget. They had suffered the worst turbulence that he'd ever experienced, and that was saying something.

The hotel was white, and had three storeys. It had the biggest windows that he'd ever seen, and could easily fit a whole person through them. It was located a few blocks from the Place de la Concorde.

Lily marched inside and went straight to the front desk. He had discovered that neither sister particularly liked flying, and they certainly hadn't enjoyed the recent plane journey. He suspected that all they wanted to do was crawl into bed.

"Chambres pour Shepard, s'il vous plaît," she snarled at the lady on duty, who immediately scrambled to locate the key cards.

Tony was confused. He couldn't remember her booking rooms earlier, and she hadn't had the time to be put on hold on countless occasions when she had walked out of their previous hotel room. Who had booked the rooms then? He couldn't recall her receiving any phone calls either. What was going on?

She all but snatched the cards from the lady's hand and passed them out rapidly. "Second floor," she growled. "Charlie, take my suitcase up for me."

"Got a good reason?" he asked, keeping his cool.

"We can either stay cooped up in this hotel, or I can head out and talk to a few of my sources. I'm not fussed either way, but I suspect you are."

"Gotcha," he smiled. "Have a good time."


	27. Merry Christmas

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I know it's a little early for Christmas, but the timeline clearly states that it needs to be dealt with. A small bit of Jibbs fluff at the end to restore my sanity._

Chapter 27: Merry Christmas

Lily jumped as Tony set off a party popper two inches from her ear. Everyone seemed a little out of control.

It had been a week since they arrived, and they had yet to pick up any solid leads. To further complicate matters, the CIA had required their agents to cover another team that had all come down with the flu. Lily was on the verge of screaming if she had to spend another hour on stakeout.

Now, it was Christmas Day, and they had chosen to decorate all their hotel rooms. Lily, Jenny and Ziva had had another 'girls only night' the previous night, painting each other's nails and doing their hair. It was a time to be spontaneous.

The rooms were decked in tinsel, confetti and mistletoe. Tony had asked Lily to lay in a supply, and they had spent a few hours while everyone else was asleep hanging it in innocuous places. McGee had yet to get the hang of dodging the plant, while Jenny had simply refused to move around without LJ by her side.

For the first time in a while, Lily actually felt relaxed. Everyone was letting their hair down and messing around. It helped that she'd managed to catch every male under the mistletoe, with the exception of LJ who was avoiding her like the plague.

It had highly amused her.

Someone, she couldn't quite remember who as she'd been drinking bourbon at the time, had suggested doing a Secret Santa. The argument had been that everyone buying everyone else presents would cause havoc, but one present per person would be easier.

Gibbs had given it the green light, but argued that each gift had to suit the recipient. Lily had offered to charge the CIA for whatever people wanted to buy, but warned that she would need to see a receipt before she'd refund anyone.

"Tony, if you set off another loud noise near my sister's ear…"

"You'll do what, Jenny," he inquired, grinning.

"I'll set her on you."

If it were possible, his grin widened. "I wouldn't mind that."

LJ head-slapped him.

"Present time!" Tony yelled.

Lily shook her head, but kept smiling. This was great.

LJ tried to bring things back under control. "We'll go clockwise," he announced. "Starting with the youngest."

"That is me," Ziva spoke up. She picked up her present off the floor and passed it to John.

The Brit looked bemused. He tore off the wrapping paper. "It's a DVD," he told everyone, scanning the front of it. "Black Book?"

"It is a Dutch movie," Ziva added. "A young woman becomes a spy for the resistance in the Second World War. She passes information to free Holland."

Lily wasn't surprised that Ziva had picked the movie. She'd seen it herself, and enjoyed it.

"Bleak," Tony commented.

"Don't knock it till you've tried it," Lily retorted.

"Oh, it's my go," Jenny realized. She passed her present to McGee.

"Thank you Director," he offered.

"Open it," Tony called.

Jenny and Lily shared a smile. They watched as McGee removed the paper.

"Something for you to put your ideas into," Jenny told him.

"Wow," was all McGee could utter.

It was a notebook, lavishly decorated. It appeared to have been black to start with, but was covered in little jewels and swirls. Lily happened to know that Jenny had decorated it herself, taking hours.

"Gibbs' go," Tony beamed. Lily began to wonder just how much sugar he had consumed.

"Fine," LJ agreed. He passed something over to Charlie.

Charlie shook it. "It's heavy," he decided.

"Just open it already," Tony whined.

"Patience," Lily reminded him.

Charlie removed the paper incredibly carefully.

"Oi, Chuck!" Lily barked. "It's not a bomb."

"Whatever happened to patience?" he teased.

Finally, he slid the box out from under the paper. He opened it cautiously.

"It's a knife," he told the others.

"Rule nine," Gibbs declared. "Never go anywhere without a knife."

"I'll remember that," Charlie promised.

"Lily goes next," LJ warned.

"Guess who I happened to pick?" she teased.

LJ put his head in his hands. "I knew it," he muttered.

She laughed, passing it over.

"Please tell me it isn't a bomb," he begged.

"Nah. JL would kill me."

Even so, he opened it with caution. "Nice!"

"Thought you might like it."

"Come on, boss. What is it?" Tony was definitely on a sugar high, Lily decided.

LJ drew it out of the box.

"Cute gun, boss."

LJ sighed. "Hit him, Lily," he ordered.

She obeyed.

"Glock 17," LJ identified it. "17 round capacity, 9 mm bullets."

"I trust you can aim that in the right direction," Lily warned him.

He nodded. "Tony's turn."

The over-excited agent passed his present to Jenny.

Jenny examined the small box deftly. "I'm guessing jewelry," she decided before ripping off the paper.

"I asked your sister's advice," Tony told her.

"Oh my… Tony, this is lovely." She drew a necklace from the box. It consisted of a silver chain with amber crystals on the end.

"Should be matching earrings in there too," Lily noted. "I bought some for myself."

"Thanks." Jenny smiled her happiness to the younger agent.

"John," Gibbs stated.

The MI6 agent passed his present to Tony.

"Not perhaps the best idea," Lily murmured.

Tony pounced on it, tearing the paper off in a frenzy. "A movie!" he yelled.

"What a surprise," Ziva declared.

"Jules et Jim," John added. "It's a nice slice of French cinema."

"Charlie's next," Gibbs proclaimed.

Charlie handed his gift to Ziva. "For the lovely lady," he told her.

She smiled as she took it, removing the paper quickly. "Moby Dick," she announced. "A first edition, in French."

"I hope you enjoy it," Charlie smiled.

"McGee, you're last," Gibbs finished.

"Erm…"

"Forgot your gift, Probie?" Tony teased.

"Well, I couldn't wrap it up," he admitted.

"That's okay," Lily soothed.

"It's on my laptop. I hope you like it."

"She'll like it even better if you get to the point, McSlow," Tony chimed.

Lily smiled at him. "What is it?"

"I've… I've set up a webcam link so you can talk to your son."

The room fell silent.

Lily felt tears starting to form in her eyes. "Thank you," she told him. "Thank you so much."

* * *

Jenny smiled as she looked out over the city. She was wearing her new necklace and earrings, and smiled as the wind whipped through her hair.

Gibbs had promised her a special gift a few hours ago, and she had pondered about it for a while. After dinner, he had taken her aside and told her to wrap up warm.

They'd started off with a walk. A few flakes of snow had come down, followed by more. By the time they reached their destination, it had been snowing heavily.

The Eiffel Tower.

Gibbs had taken her hand and led her up the stairs. They'd taken their time to climb it; Gibbs was mindful of her condition. It had taken them a while to reach the uppermost observation desk, but it had been worth it.

The view was spectacular.

Jenny could see for miles. Paris was spread out below her. She tried to work out roughly were their hotel was, and realized that she didn't have a clue.

Not that she cared.

Gibbs was holding her tight in his arms, nuzzling her neck. She never wanted to move again. Everything was perfect.

"I can see soccer runs in the near future," she mumbled, rubbing her stomach.

Gibbs chuckled. "They still kicking up a storm?"

"You bet."

He rubbed her stomach gently. "It'll be worth it," he promised.

"I know."

"Fancy a snowball fight?"

She turned and stared at him.

"Snow's getting kinda deep down there," he noted. "We could have a bit of a runaround."

She considered. "Only if we use the elevator back down."

"It's a deal."

He took her hand and guided her to the doors. When they reached the bottom, they stepped off and headed into the park.

They continued walking until they reached an area with a few trees. Gibbs let go of her hand and smiled.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be calling Lil for a ride back?" Jenny grinned.

Gibbs bent down and picked up some snow. She collected some from a tree branch, patted it into shape and turned around.

He wasn't there.

She whirled, trying to find him.

Something freezing cold was suddenly stuffed down the back of her jacket. She screamed, more in shock than anything else.

"I'm going to get you for that, Jethro," she swore, flinging her snowball at his head.

He ducked it easily, moving back into the trees.

This was not fair! He could move more easily than she could.

She re-armed, weaving in and out of the trees so he couldn't find her. Eventually, she caught sight of the back of him. As quietly as she could, she crept up behind him.

He was the one who screamed that time. She grinned triumphantly. "One all," she announced.

"Next one wins?" he asked.

She nodded, and headed back into the shadows. Barely a minute later, she felt the now familiar cold of the snow against her neck.

"I win," he smirked.

"Not fair."

"Why not, ma'am?"

She hit his arm for the 'ma'am' comment. "You're a marine and you're not pregnant!"

He took her arm in his. "You think I should forfeit? I guess you win then. What do you want?"

"I don't want anything," she admitted. "Just you."


	28. New Years Eve

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Finally figured out how to stop Lily plot bunnies from mulitplying - a nice long lecture on DNA replication. Kills all creative thoughts dead._

Chapter 28: New Years Eve

Tony DiNozzo knocked back another beer. He thought it might have been his third, but things were starting to get a little hazy.

He hadn't realized just how much they had been relying on the CIA agents for leads. Now they had been called away temporarily, the entire mission had ground to a halt.

Not that it had been going particularly fast with their help, but it had at least been crawling along.

Tonight, New Years Eve of all nights, they been called out on a stakeout somewhere. Lily and Charlie had refused to divulge any details before their departure. To make up for it, they had supplied the alcohol for the party.

Gibbs' hotel room reminded everyone of why they were in France, so Ziva had suggested holding the party in the CIA agents' room. Lily and Charlie weren't using it so they wouldn't miss it. It also had the advantage of allowing people to leave whenever they wanted as no one was staying there.

The Probie had decided to do an Abby and play some weird kind of rock music at an unbelievable level. At least it was better than her Chipmunk Christmas album that was normally played nonstop throughout December back home. On the other hand, someone singing about loving a monster man was not perhaps the best way to start the New Year.

Tony missed home more than he thought he would. He missed Abby and her craziness. He missed Ducky and his long stories. He even missed the Autopsy Gremlin, mad as he was.

"We should play a drinking game," Tony declared. "It would be fun."

Gibbs shook his head. "Why would you want to play a drinking game, DiNozzo?"

"Coz it's fun, boss."

"You're in someone else's room. If I trashed Lily's room, she'd kill me."

"I'm not you."

Tony couldn't understand how Gibbs was almost scared of Lily. Okay, she was a redhead and had a temper, but she knew her limits. While Ziva threatened to kill him with office supplies, Lily normally just offered to shoot you.

"I know what we should do!" he decided. "Middle names. Everyone has an embarrassing middle name."

This time the Probie stood up to him. "Why do you want to play a game, Tony?"

"We need to liven this place up a bit, and the boss is scared of us trashing the place. Ziva, you game?"

She nodded.

"Jenny?"

"I can't see the harm."

"You can't play," Gibbs objected immediately.

"Why not?" the redhead asked.

"Because."

"That's not a good reason, boss," Tony pointed out gleefully.

Jenny chuckled. "How could I forget?"

"Exactly," Gibbs smirked.

"Forget what?" Tony complained.

Jenny smiled at him. "My parents weren't very imaginative. Lil and I share names."

"I don't understand."

"Her middle name is my first name and my first name is her middle name."

"Huh?"

Jenny turned to Gibbs for help.

"She's Jennifer Lily Shepard, and her sister is Lily Jennifer Shepard," he offered.

Tony considered this. "So you can't tell me your middle name without telling me Lily's real name."

Jenny nodded. "Exactly. Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to bed."

He waited until she was out of the room before turning to Ziva. "What's Jenny's middle name?" he queried.

* * *

Charlie sat in the car, watching his redheaded partner sleep.

Some team somewhere in Paris had managed to all come down with the flu. Charlie didn't know the exact details as Lily liked to keep most cards close to her chest. All he knew was that the CIA had decided to save money and asked various other agents in the surrounding area to cover the stakeout.

It was incredibly boring, more boring that Operation Lazarus was turning out to be. At least with Lazarus, he knew that Lily was keeping secrets – she always kept secrets. The fun part was trying to figure out what she was hiding before it came back to bite your behind.

She was a good mentor. She encouraged him to think for himself, while still retaining control. She constantly reminded him to think outside the box, not by telling him to, but by doing it herself. If he wanted to keep up with her, he had to work hard.

She loved to play games. Long, drawn-out, complicated games. He knew from experience that she wouldn't have started this op without a trump card somewhere, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

The only thing that stuck out was the times she vanished.

Except she normally vanished. Whenever they were in Europe, she had a nasty habit of disappearing at sunset and reappearing at the sunrise. Initially, he had toyed with the idea that she was some sort of anti-vampire, until they'd ended up on a different stakeout in Glasgow.

That, and he'd bought some garlic once in Marrakesh and put it in her suitcase. Thankfully, she hadn't realized it was him.

Although, knowing her, she'd probably figured it out years ago and never bothered to confront him.

She was a good agent. Completely crazy at the best of times, but good nevertheless. She was also a nice person. She had a knack for remembering important dates like birthdays and anniversaries, and she tended to get something personal instead of something expensive.

On top of that, she was a good mother. She clearly loved her son and missed him when she was away. Charlie knew that the postcards to him were not only a way of reassuring him, but they were also reassuring for her.

He couldn't figure out the current strange postcards though. He knew that some of her informants and sources were a little eccentric, but all she was concerned about was whether they gave her accurate intel or not. So far, the postcards had been accurate, although the latest one hadn't been as obvious. They had yet to run into Jasper Shepard.

Which could be a good thing. The two of them seemed to have a very fractious relationship; they were always trying to kill the other. The ricin incident had only heightened the tension. Charlie, convinced that his partner was dying, had arranged for her son to visit her. The young boy had refused to leave the hospital until his mother had begun to get better.

The Shepard clan was much stranger than his own family.

* * *

McGee cheered as the New Year officially began. Tony had stuck the television on and they were watching the celebrations. Outside, they could hear fireworks.

Part of him wished to be home with his own family, but he was enjoying himself here, with his second family.

They were all rather drunk by now, except for Gibbs who had been nursing a bourbon for the last three hours. He seemed to have decided to babysit his team, as the Director had gone to bed. McGee privately felt that Tony needed a babysitter. He'd already managed to spill beer all over Charlie's bed, and ground half a packet of nachos into the carpet. Lily was not going to be pleased…

Or maybe she wouldn't mind. She was fond of Tony. Perhaps she would let him get away with it, or send Charlie after him instead.

The CIA agents weren't due back for hours. By that time, they would hopefully be exhausted and go to sleep without realizing the state of the room.

"Hey Ziva," Tony slurred.

"What?" The Israeli might have had a few drinks, but she seemed frosty towards her partner.

"You know, it's traditional at the New Year to share a kiss with someone."

"McGee is available if you feel the urge," she retorted.

"He isn't a woman. Wait, I take that back."

"Shut up, Tony," McGee warned.

"By my reckoning, you are the only woman in here."

"You do not want to wait for Lily to return?" she countered.

"I said, she's not here."

"So I am second best?"

Tony seemed to consider it.

McGee hoped that Gibbs would intervene. The discussion was rapidly going downhill and Ziva would happily kill Tony at this rate.

"I'm saying that –"

There was a knocking at the door. It was very faint, but they all heard it.

"I'll get it," McGee offered, hoping against all hope that the CIA agents had returned. He moved over to the door and pulled it open.

He wasn't expecting what he saw.

"Director? Are you okay?"

The moment is came out of his mouth, he expected a Gibbs-slap. Of course she wasn't okay.

She was wearing an NIS shirt that probably belonged to Gibbs. Her hair was loose and tussled, and she was shaking. There were tears in her eyes and she looked terrified.

"Boss?" McGee called. He didn't know how to deal with this.

He felt Gibbs come up behind him. The boss took one look at her and pulled her through the door. He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

He kissed the top of her head. "Everything's going to be okay," he muttered. "I promise."

She shook her head vehemently.

"You want to stay for a while?" Gibbs asked.

She nodded.

Gibbs led her over to Lily's bed, the alcohol free one. She climbed in readily, but didn't lie down fully, instead propping her head against the headboard.

"You need to go to sleep," he told her.

She shook her head again. She still looked scared, but appeared to be calming down.

McGee couldn't work out what was going on. What could scare the Director of NCIS so much?


	29. Nightmares and Dreamscapes

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! One slightly disturbing insight into Lily's mind coming up, but first..._

Chapter 29: Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat next to his lover. She was still awake, and clearly forcing herself to remain that way.

The moment he saw her, he knew exactly what had happened. He also knew that there was no chance of calming her down until Lily showed up. He'd seen this before.

In one sense, he was almost relieved. They desperately needed a lead, and they just might have got one. On the other hand, he'd rather be struggling with the mission than let Jenny go through this again.

Normally when this happened, he gave her bourbon and comforted her until Lily called. This time, he couldn't give her bourbon. Fortunately, Lily was in the area.

She was on stakeout. Supposed to be on stakeout, anyway. It was obvious that she had fallen asleep. With any luck, she would be on her way back by now, leaving Charlie to carry on doing whatever she was meant to be doing.

Jenny was trembling next to him. He ran his fingers softly through her hair, trying to help her relax. She seemed half-asleep, but was in fact consciously attempting not to drop off. So far, it was working.

A soft scratching sound was the only warning they had of Lily's arrival. As usual, she hadn't bothered to find her key and picked the lock instead.

He wasn't expecting to see her partner behind her, looking furious.

"What exactly is going to happen when someone realizes you've blown off a stakeout?" Charlie fumed.

"I don't particularly care," she told him, rushing to Jenny's side.

"I'm dead," Jenny sobbed.

Not good. So not good.

"Will you relax for two minutes?" Lily asked.

"He pulled the trigger."

"He didn't pull it. I was watching, and it wasn't him."

Jenny looked at her for a moment.

"I promise."

Jenny nodded.

"We need to talk. LJ, I'm going to need some bourbon to get through this."

Gibbs got up and let Lily take his previous spot. She kicked her shoes off and settled down.

"Let's start with the obvious," Lily suggested.

"You weren't there."

"Could you see the far wall?"

"No."

"So I might have been there. I didn't see John or Tony."

"The others were all there."

Lily smiled as Gibbs handed her a glass of bourbon.

"You're seriously not going to drink that, are you?" Jenny pleaded.

"Nah. You can't drink it, so I won't. We can smell it though."

They shared a grin.

"Back to business," Lily ordered. "The Lone Wolf was present."

"With a gun to my head."

Lily cocked her head to one side. "We can deal with that," she decided.

"I'll take your word for it."

"We've got some time. You were in labor, after all."

Jenny winced. "It only gives us a few months."

"We've had two days before. We can deal with six weeks."

"Six weeks?" Gibbs interrupted.

"Maybe seven?" Lily suggested.

Gibbs leant against the wall and mused. Six or seven weeks until he was a father again. He wasn't sure whether to panic or be pleased.

"The rest of the team were there," Jenny repeated.

"They'd put their guns down," Lily recalled.

"I can understand why they'd do that –"

"There was someone else in that room."

"Are you sure?"

"The Lone Wolf did not pull the trigger. I'll stake my life on it, Sydney Opera House be damned. Someone else was there and pulled the trigger."

"It ended right there."

"I know, but he didn't do it."

Jenny considered for a minute. "I think it might have been in Bucharest."

"Capital of Romania? Remember that summer we went down the Danube?"

"How could I forget? How you managed to get Dad to agree to that, I'll never know."

"I smiled sweetly. And told him that Steve's family would be there."

Jenny laughed, the tension draining out of her. "You told him that your boyfriend's family was going to be there? How did he fall for that?"

"I haven't got a clue. There we were, two fifteen year old maniacs, with a nice guy –"

"He was not nice!"

"Just because _your_ boyfriend had to work that summer!"

"Enough." Gibbs decided to stop the argument before it started.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him.

"How old was this guy, anyway?" He couldn't believe that she'd managed to scam her father like that.

"Twenty two. Really handsome. Gorgeous brown eyes –"

Tony chose to butt in then. "You dated a twenty two year old when you were fifteen?!"

Lily smiled at him. "I like toyboys right now."

"Back on topic," Jenny tried.

"Right. Romania. I'll book us tickets for tomorrow morning; we can be there by noon."

"Are you sure?"

Lily looked her sister in the eyes. "If I honestly thought I'd be putting you in any danger, I'd stick you on the first flight back to DC."

* * *

Tony DiNozzo was confused.

It wasn't entirely due to all the alcohol he had consumed. Jenny's appearance and then the sister's strange conversation would have puzzled him if he were sober.

He tried to work it out. When Jenny had first shown up, he thought that she'd had a nightmare. She'd clearly been asleep, and seemed a little confused as well as scared. Her refusal to go back to sleep had cemented the idea.

The discussion though had been more baffling. It sounded to his drunken mind as if they were talking about the same dream, which couldn't be right. How could two people share a dream?

They were also acting as though it told them something. As though it was going to come true. Dreams never came true.

What he did understand was that they were going to Romania.

And the sisters seemed to have a thing for older men.

Jenny was dating Gibbs, who was older than her. Lily's husband had been older than her. Lily's former boyfriend who she'd spent a summer with in Europe had been older than her.

So why did Lily now claim to like toyboys? What had happened to change her preference?

He made a mental note to bug her about it when he was sober.

He watched as Jenny finally settled down. Lily had shifted so that they were sharing the same position, although Jenny was under the covers. The party had definitely wound down.

The sisters mimicked each other without looking. Each one lay on their back, with their hands on their abdomens. The obvious difference was that Jenny's were on her bump.

"I think it's time for a story," Lily decided.

Jenny grimaced. "I think I'm a little old for a story. I'm fairly sure that I haven't turned into your son overnight."

Lily giggled. "I was thinking more along the lines of 'The Continuing Terrors of Mara Davies'."

Jenny chuckled. "You've got to be kidding."

"Nope. We could do with it."

"We haven't done that in years. Whose turn is it?"

"Mine," Lily told her firmly. "Got any requests?"

"Nothing involving guns."

"Okay. Close your eyes and I'll think."

The room stayed quiet for a few minutes. The only sound was Gibbs pouring himself another drink. Tony suspected that Gibbs might have heard 'The Continuing Terrors of Mara Davies' before.

"It was a time of dark, dark despair," Lily intoned, her voice low. She sounded like a wildlife presenter. "American soldiers were dying at an ungodly rate in a war-torn Europe while at home, a deadly strain of the flu virus attacked young and old alike. Tragedy was a visitor on every doorstep while a creeping hopelessness set in with every man, woman and child. It was a time of dark, dark despair."

"I think you mentioned that bit," Jenny murmured. "And I'm sure I've heard that someone else before..."

"So I might have nicked it from somewhere," Lily replied, her voice back to normal. "May I continue?"

"Go on."

"Mara Davies found herself in the jungle," Lily continued, back to her lower voice. "She was horrifically scarred from a previous accident involving a vat of boiling tar."

"Isn't she missing a hand?" Jenny queried.

"You lopped her head off once, and she's still crawling around! I'm taking artistic license."

"Get on with it," Gibbs ordered, sipping his bourbon.

"Right," Lily offered. "As she stumbled through the jungle, she noticed a python wrapping itself around her leg. She screamed for help, her frail voice carrying for miles. The python took one look at her and slithered away in fear."

Lily's voice was becoming softer.

"Shortly afterwards, she found herself surrounded by locals. They had never seen a creature like this before, and they prodded and poked her with their arrows. Mara was terrified. The locals were talking in a language that made no sense. They seemed to come to a decision."

Lily was almost asleep, as was Jenny. She carried on with her tale.

"They decided to spit-roast her and see what she tasted like. They bound her, but didn't bother to use a gag. After all, there was no one around to hear her screams…"

They were both asleep. Gibbs motioned that they should all leave and let them be.

Outside the room, Tony turned to Charlie.

"Who's Mara Davies?" he inquired.

"Mara Davies was married to Jasper Shepard," the CIA agent told him. "She's their stepmother."


	30. Paris of the East

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! My Internet is being horrible and has died 5 times in the last 24 hours, so I apologise if I take a little while to reply to any reviews._

Chapter 30: Paris of the East

Ziva David clutched the armrest tightly. This pilot was insane.

They were flying through the middle of a thunderstorm. Lightning crackled around the plane, and the thunder shook everything. The pilot had cheerfully announced that they were coming in to Bucharest a few minutes ago.

About time too.

Jenny and Lily had chosen to sit either side of Gibbs, Jenny for comfort and Lily to aggravate him. As it was, they did not like plane journeys, and this one was not good. The entire plane was shaking around in the air.

Tony was busy tormenting McGee with horror stories about planes that fell apart in mid-air, while Charlie was somehow managing to sleep through the whole experience.

Whereas John had spent most of his time in the bathroom.

The plane gave a particularly violent shudder before the pilot landed it. The passengers cheered.

"Oh," Charlie sat up. "We're here?"

They headed through customs, Lily waving a badge at the officials and persuading them to let the team skip the queue. Lily seemed to have either infinite patience or none whatsoever.

The cab rank was full of ancient vehicles. Ziva saw Gibbs eyeing them suspiciously and privately agreed. Some of them appeared to be held together by duct tape, and the one at the front by prayer alone. Lily strode over to one in the middle of the line, to the fury of the other cab drivers. The front window rolled down, and she talked to the driver for a few minutes before heading back to the others.

"Pyotr has agreed to take half of us to the hotel," she informed them. "He's calling a friend with a better car to take the other half."

The expression on both her and Gibbs' faces told them exactly which car Jenny was getting into.

They all waited on the side of the road for Pyotr's friend to arrive. Finally, another car pulled in. It was a shiny new car that would not have looked out of place in the States. The other cab drivers glared at it in envy.

The team split into the different cars. It was only a short ride to the hotel. Ziva got out and stared at it.

It was set back from the road by a white wall and a short garden. The building was cream-colored, and three storeys high. Each room had a small balcony, which Ziva guessed had good views of the city. She could make out glass doors connecting the balcony with the room. The only negative aspect was the ugly black drainpipes that ran down the walls.

They followed Lily through the door and up to the counter.

"Aveţi camere libere?" she inquired. "Nu vorbesc bine româneste. Vorbeşte cineva aici engleză?"

"What did you just say?" Ziva whispered as the man disappeared into the back room.

"We need rooms and I don't speak Romanian very well," she translated.

"I will take your word for it," Ziva muttered.

It took Lily another five minutes to get everything sorted, before they headed up the stairs to their rooms.

* * *

Once again, Jenny sat in an unfamiliar waiting room. Gibbs was next to her, holding her hand.

This was Lily's idea. She had been concerned about the previous night's possible effect on the twins, and had arranged another ultrasound for later in the day. They'd only been in Bucharest for four hours, but Lily had been insistent.

Initially, Jenny had rebelled and argued that she didn't need to go. She had lost the moment Gibbs had told her she was going. She was not strong enough to refuse him.

She wasn't sure she wanted to.

Right now, she was feeling pretty good. She'd enjoyed 'The Continuing Terrors of Mara Davies', which was exactly why Lily had chosen to go with it. When they were younger, they had taken it in turns to invent the story before they fell asleep. Even today, she found it soothing.

It had taken them years to accept Mara as their stepmother. They'd delighted in causing all kinds of problems for her. Now, they were all close friends. Jenny wondered if Mara knew that her old husband was still alive.

She decided to ask Lily about it later.

The doctor finally walked back in. "Ms Shepard, if you could come with me?"

This one looked like the creepy slimeball she had been expecting the first time. His hair was greasy and lank, his eyes looked like pinpricks, and he smelt of rotting fish. Jenny resisted the urge to gag as she followed him.

She guessed that Gibbs was doing the same.

She found herself on an examination table, cold gel on her abdomen. Doctor Slimeball manipulated the probe so he could get a better look.

"The twins look fine," he told them. They were already smiling at the familiar sound of the heartbeats. "Your file says you do not want to know the sex."

"That's correct," Gibbs confirmed. He decided not to mention the pool that Tony had started.

"We want to be surprised," Jenny told the doctor.

"Okay," Doctor Slimeball agreed, looking disappointed. "The twins can now hear things outside the womb, including your voices. They should even be able to recognize you."

Jenny was glad that they had been taking the time to talk to her bump. Lily had been joining in, and Jenny could see the confusion ahead for her children.

Although her nephew could tell them apart easily. Perhaps the twins would be able to do it as well.

"The twins are able to form fists and clasp objects. You can see, there," the doctor pointed out the screen, "The twin on the left is holding the other twin's hand."

Gibbs stared at the screen.

"This is the stage when twins start to bond," Doctor Slimeball informed them.

Jenny was fascinated by the screen. Once, a long long time ago, this had been her and Lily.

It was amazing.

"Everything looks good," Doctor Slimeball repeated. "I can print you some pictures if you would like."

"Yes please," Jenny muttered. She couldn't wait to show them to Lily.

* * *

McGee watched Lily on the phone. She certainly wasn't talking in English, and he hadn't a clue what she was saying.

She was talking rapidly, and gesturing wildly. Something was bugging her, more likely someone. He wondered if Ziva would have been able to translate…

Lily had ordered him out of the hotel a few hours ago. The Director and Gibbs had gone to a local hospital, and McGee didn't think he could actually refuse her something. She'd hired a car and told him to drive around slowly.

He had soon discovered why she had picked him.

The local drivers were maniacs. They drove on both sides of the road, completely ignored the speed limits and swerved everywhere. Ziva and Tony would have had a field day.

As it was, he had struggled to drive normally. Lily had produced a road map and starting directing him up and down residential streets. She spent most of the time looking out the windows, searching for something.

It had been rather annoying. She twisted one way, before whirling around to look at something else, her seat belt hampering her movements. She had managed to crack her head on his a few times, in her enthusiasm.

It had started to rain and the bleak streetlights had come on, barely illuminating anything. Lily had refused to give up, and ordered him to keep driving.

So he had. Down narrow windy dirt tracks, along lengthy straight stretches of open road, across the city the car had weaved. Other cars had raced around them, cut in front of them, attempted to reverse into them. Once, they had stopped at a level crossing without barriers, and a car behind had shifted onto the grass verge and whipped across the rails.

McGee had had to remind himself to breathe on several occasions.

Still the car trundled on, crossing the whole of Bucharest. Lily had somehow come up with a way of visiting every street without doing down the same one twice. It made the journey even more surreal, as he had no clue where they were.

Finally, she ordered him to pull over. He didn't need to be told twice.

She continued to jabber on her phone. The arm movements were calmer now, and she appeared to be giving orders. She jabbed at the air in front of her to punctuate her statements.

McGee wondered whether the Director did this when no one could see her. He suspected that she might; the two sisters were incredibly alike.

At last, she cut the connection and sighed.

"What's going on?" he dared to ask.

"Persuading the locals to monitor arrivals into the country," she told him. "I want to know when Jasper Shepard and The Lone Wolf show up."

"You think they will."

She gazed out the windscreen. "They will."

"Why are we here then?" He pressed his luck.

"I saw that house in my dream." She turned around and pointed at one halfway down the block.

"And?"

"And, we're going to have another stakeout."


	31. Plamennaya Malyishka

Chapter 31: Plamennaya malyishka

Tony DiNozzo stepped off the elevator and laughed.

They had been in Romania for a fortnight. There had been no new leads or ideas, but Lily had insisted on staking out the house she had located. She had even managed to end up partnered with him a lot.

It had taken the Probie several days to recover from his mad car journey with Lily. It hadn't helped that he'd barely recovered from the plane ride when she'd ordered him out the door.

Jenny had finally entered her third trimester. She was starting to experience backache, and Gibbs was keeping a close eye on her. Everyone was watching out for her and helping in little ways.

They'd all spent an evening talking to the bump. John and Charlie had been on stakeout, but Jenny had allowed everyone to introduce themselves. In their defense, most of them had been a little tipsy at the time. Tony had particularly enjoyed calling McGee 'Uncle Probie' until Gibbs had head-slapped him.

He had already decided that these kids were going to have one crazy extended family. Ziva would teach them to fight, McGee would teach them all about computers, while Abby would play loud music and have fun dressing them identically. Ducky would tell long-winded bedtime stories, and he... he would teach them all about movies. And cars. And women, regardless of whether they were male or female.

He had visions of little redheaded twins helping Gibbs to build a boat, and swore not to drink as much alcohol ever again.

Ziva had found herself a new running route within a day. She also taken to running both in the morning and the evening. Tony guessed it was so she could clear her mind better, stave off boredom.

He hadn't had that problem.

Lily had been at the hotel more. She had snuck out a few times, but certainly not as much as she had been doing in other countries. She seemed a little on edge, and had sent at least three postcards to her son in the last week. Tony hoped that the lad was okay.

"And it turned out," Lily delivered the punch line as she followed him off the elevator, "That it was his wife!"

"Oh no, really?" He could hardly believe most of the things she told him, but she didn't appear to be lying.

"We'd spent a month bugging her phone because we thought she was some mystery woman. The office pool was enormous. Some of the options were sister, mistress, mother –"

"I thought you said she looked younger than him?"

"Plastic surgery?" she suggested. "It ended up getting completely out of hand."

"Did the higher-ups ever find out?"

"Find out? Most of them asked me to place bets for them!"

"You're kidding?" he spluttered.

"Did I mention it got out of hand?"

"Jeez. That wouldn't happen at NCIS."

"Only because LJ would find out about it and kick off."

They weaved their way through the small crowd at the front desk.

"Gibbs doesn't know _everything_ that goes on," Tony argued.

"I'm probably the only one who can slide anything past him," she retorted. "He's sharp."

Tony stopped just outside the hotel and dug out the map. "So, that market is…"

"You're holding it upside down," she pointed out.

He turned the paper the right way up. "Okay, we're here. And the market is…"

"That way," she pointed.

He looked up.

"Everyone else is going that way," she remarked.

"You lead the way then."

"I was planning to."

"Why'd you want to go, anyway?"

"It's supposed to be nice, and I'd like an afternoon out."

He decided that he usually disagreed with most women's definition of nice, but Lily didn't exact fit into a box. Perhaps it would be fun. He caught her hand as she walked past him and she smiled at him.

They'd taken three steps when a young boy approached them.

He looked to be about ten, and was wrapped up against the cold. His hat was bright red, and his scarf looked as though it was choking him.

"Hey miss," he called to Lily.

She smiled and tried to side step him.

He was faster. "I got you a present, miss."

"I've got no money," she told him.

"It's a nice present, miss."

"I need to be somewhere else."

"You'll like it, miss."

Tony wondered whether he should step in and help out. The boy was unusually persistent.

"I'm busy," Lily repeated.

"Scram, kid," Tony ordered.

They managed to get round him and walk away from the hotel.

"Plamennaya malyishka," the boy called.

Lily stopped moving.

He ran up behind her and she turned around.

"What did you just call me?" she queried.

"For you." He held out his hand and opened it.

It was a very crushed, single lily.

She took it carefully.

"Do you have anything else for me?" she asked.

He nodded, and withdrew a postcard from his jacket. "For plamennaya malyishka," he told her proudly.

She smiled her thanks at him, before reaching into her pocket and removing a fifty euro note.

"For you," she offered, exchanging the two items.

The boy smiled at her. "Mulţumesc mult." He ran off, away from the hotel.

"What was that about?" Tony questioned.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could she have missed this?

Lily was furious with herself. Earlier, she had carried on going to the market and wandering around the stalls, but her mind had been elsewhere. With a mysterious boy and a postcard.

She might have been distracted for the last fortnight, but she couldn't have been so careless. Somehow, Jasper Shepard had managed to get into the country without the locals telling her.

Perhaps he had access to a private plane somewhere, registered under a false name. She knew that she tended to use pseudonyms related to her family, and made a mental note to start searching in case he was doing the same.

At least she knew where he would be heading, and roughly when.

A fat lot of good it was if the locals weren't helping. She didn't have unlimited funds and couldn't afford to bribe all of them. Jasper Shepard had a lot more money and probably had half the police force in his pocket.

She couldn't use the locals then.

She had been amused by the use of the small boy earlier. The red hat was a good idea, as was the name he had used. It had immediately grabbed her attention, like it needed to, and she had paid careful attention to everything he had done and given her.

The lily had been a nice touch. She had tucked it into her pocket, crushed as it was, and rubbed her fingers against it often. It meant a lot to her. When she was younger, her mother used to give her lilies in connection with her chosen name. Now, she sent lilies to Jenny on their birthday as a joke, but she still loved them.

She decided to lay in a supply of vodka. It would be worth it, and could help her out. Anything that could help her at this point was good.

Everyone, with the exception of Charlie and John who were on stakeout again, was present in LJ's hotel room. Lily glanced around them before reading the postcard out.

"Mademoiselle, partout au monde, un "je t'aime", c'est la même chose.  
Chaque jour, chaque nuit, toi, tu reste ma seule rose.  
Prends mon coeur, prends mon âme, ma vie, ma chérie.  
Appelle-moi où que tu sois, même en Roumanie."

"I don't speak French," LJ grumbled.

"You worked undercover in France and you didn't bother to learn?" she snapped.

Jenny gave her a warning look. "He means that his French is a little rusty, and he'd like a translation."

She complied.

"My dear, in the whole world, "I love you" is the same.  
Every day, every night, you are my only rose.  
Take my heart, take my soul, my life, my darling,  
Call me, wherever you are, even in Romania."

"Someone's an awful poet," Tony declared.

"They're all very similar," McGee noticed. "With a different destination at the end."

"They're still written by an idiot, McGemcity. Wait a minute, maybe you're the author!"

LJ head-slapped him.

"Thank you, boss," Tony told him.

"Finished?" LJ asked.

"Yes, boss," Tony agreed.

"Why is it in French?" Ziva queried. "We are in Romania."

"It's in French because it should have been mailed to us in France," Lily answered. "We got here ahead of time, but it was still given to us."

"By a little boy," Tony added. "Why not use the mail this time?"

"Maybe it's too dangerous," McGee offered. "It's written in French; it would look out of place."

"It doesn't matter _why_ it's in French," Lily replied angrily. "What matters is that we've managed to miss Jasper Shepard and The Lone Wolf's arrival into the country. What matters is that they're here and we have no clue where."


	32. Dynamite Tonite

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Everything is starting to come together now... Although you might not like me at the end of this chapter._

Chapter 32: Dynamite Tonite

Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat in the hotel room, nursing a bourbon.

The last four weeks had been incredibly uneventful. The house that Lily had identified appeared to be completely deserted still, and he knew that she had taken a secret drive around the city a few days ago, double-checking that they were guarding the right one.

His main concern was that time was running out. If Lily had worked out the timeline correctly, and she usually did, they had about a week before it all kicked off.

Jenny was curled up next to him, fast asleep. Fatigue had begun to set in more easily for her, and Gibbs was happy to let her rest. Especially as they knew what was coming soon…

He knew that, at the end of the day, Jenny would be okay. Lily was prepared to jump in front of a bullet for her sister, and he was happy to do the same.

The rest of the team were rallying round. Now Jenny had entered her eighth month of pregnancy, they were doing whatever it took to stop her from becoming stressed. Tony had taken charge of the mail, while McGee talked to the local field offices.

Privately, Gibbs was thankful that Jenny wasn't in DC. Her pregnancy was capable of ruining her career. Out here, in Europe, the politicians didn't have a clue what was going on. The agency had required her for a few official functions, and Lily had simply gone in her place. As far as Washington was concerned, Jennifer Shepard was not pregnant.

"Have you guys thought about baby names yet?" McGee asked. Everyone was present, with the exception of Charlie and Tony who were on stakeout.

Jenny stirred slightly but didn't wake.

"A bit," Gibbs offered. For once, he was feeling fairly open. Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that Lily had glared daggers at him across the room at McGee's suggestion.

"What have you come up with?" Ziva queried.

"Dual names," he told them. "Like Jen and Lily's."

"Good," Lily butted in.

"Jen likes Nathanial and Isaac, while I like Kenneth and William."

"I'm not going to argue," Lily admitted. "What about girls?"

"We're not agreeing on girls at all," he confessed. "If I like something, she vetoes it, and if she likes something, I veto it."

"As long as you don't go with my name, I don't care," Lily added, getting up and snatching the bourbon from his hand.

He didn't bother to fight back. It wasn't worth it.

"What is your name?" Ziva questioned. She had been trying to catch Lily off guard for some time now, but Lily didn't give her secrets up that easily. The Israeli was frustrated that she didn't know the answer, and couldn't seem to find out.

"Depends who you ask," she shot back, sipping the rest of the drink before putting the glass back in his hand.

He wondered if they had any more bourbon left, or if that was the last bottle.

* * *

McGee watched as John escorted the Director from the hotel room.

It was late in the afternoon, and the Director had become restless at being cooped up all day long. The MI6 agent had offered to drive her into the heart of Bucharest and take her shopping. His argument was that a little bit of retail therapy was a good thing.

Gibbs had agreed, especially as the Director would be accompanied at all times. John had pointed out that he would carry the shopping bags and her purse. Lily had shrugged her shoulders at the suggestion, before disappearing to make a phone call.

For once, McGee was not being harassed by Tony. The senior field agent had spent most of the day on stakeout duties at the house that Lily had identified, and had been stuck with Charlie as well.

McGee missed Abby. The Goth was extremely bubbly and excitable, and she brightened up his day. He'd missed seeing her Halloween costume, and spending the New Year with her, and just plain being around her. If she had been allowed to come to Europe with them, she would have kept everyone's spirits up. She would have bounced all over the hotel rooms, rambled on about everything, given advice to everyone, and been a perfect addition to their cover. He wondered if it was too late to ask Lily to bring her out.

He also missed Ducky. The kindly doctor was always happy to lend a hand or sit down and listen to problems without rushing to judgment. He would have spent many an evening regaling them with tales from his youth.

Although, on second thoughts, Ducky telling countless stories would only have led to early nights every night. Only Gibbs seemed to be able to put up with his stories on a constant basis, and the continued tension among the team probably would have led to a murder.

McGee was slowly starting to go mad. His new novel had ground to a halt again, and he knew that endless stakeouts were not going to give him inspiration. All they seemed to be doing was sitting around, waiting for something – anything – to happen.

The worst bit was that he was starting to wish that the nightmare would become real. A standoff would break the monotony nicely. Unfortunately, from what he understood, the Director would end up with a gun to her head and someone pulling the trigger, but Lily had seemed adamant that everything would resolve itself.

Lily was the most inexplicable woman he had ever dealt with. She was definitely hiding something; her mysterious disappearances were proof of that. But what? What could she be hiding that she couldn't tell anyone? And how badly could this backfire?

The backfiring bit was what McGee was most afraid of. Lily had proved herself to be a formidable opponent before now. She had blown herself up and risked her life for this mission already. Whatever she did to end this, it was going to be dramatic.

BOOM

For a second, everyone froze.

It sounded as though it had come from the center of the city. And it was loud.

The Director and John!

Everyone grabbed their weapons silently and raced for the door.

* * *

Ziva David did not slow down as she approached the scene.

She knew from experience that an explosion would cause havoc on the roads. People would drive away from it, while emergency vehicles would drive towards it. Bearing this in mind, the team had wordlessly chosen to run to the scene.

It had not been hard to find. Everyone was running away from it.

She ran eight miles every morning without fail, and had been keeping her practice going. The run had not been difficult for her. Both Gibbs and Lily were physically fit and had no problems in sprinting for almost a mile, dodging people hurrying in the opposite direction.

McGee, on the other hand…

He arrived shortly after them, gasping for breath, resting his hands on his thighs and trying to get his breathing under control.

Ziva was glad that he had not had the chance to see the scene yet.

It reminded her of when Tony's car had been blown up, and they had watched it happen on camera. A single car sat in the middle of the street, a burnt-out wreck. Pieces of metal were scattered over the road, and glass fragments were everywhere. The fire had died down, but there were still some smoldering objects.

One dead body sat in what had been the driver's seat. Some miraculously unburnt shopping was blowing down the street.

She knew, without a doubt, that this had been John's car.

She also knew that the dead man in the front seat was John.

There was no sign of Jenny.

Ziva looked across at Gibbs. His face was full of concern and anger. Lily was frozen in place. It was clear that she had not been expecting this.

She knew when McGee saw the scene.

"What on earth…" He never bothered to finish his sentence.

Lily seemed to pull herself together and moved over to Gibbs' side. She gently took his hand in hers and forced him to look at her.

"Twenty bucks says that's John," she told him, her voice quivering slightly.

Gibbs stared at her, not saying a word. Ziva wondered whether he was seeing Jenny in front of him or Lily.

"He likes car bombs," she admitted. "I should have known; I should have checked the car before they left."

"It's not your fault," he croaked. "I shouldn't have let them go out."

"Jenny is fine for the moment," she reassured him. "I'd know if she wasn't."

He looked into her eyes before nodding. "I'd know too."

She lightly slapped his arm. "She's going to be fine. I'm going to talk to the locals before heading back to the hotel. I'll see you there, okay?"

He squeezed her hand before letting go. "We'll head back now," he agreed. "There's nothing we can do here."

Ziva followed McGee and Gibbs away from the scene. She knew that she would be smelling burnt flesh for the next few days, and seeing this sight in her nightmares.

"Gibbs," she asked. "Why are we trusting a dream?"


	33. Secrets and Lies

_Thank to my wonderful beta Kristen! One major plot twist coming up..._

_A/N: Erm, please don't lynch me. Pretty please?!_

Chapter 33: Secrets and Lies

Lily fought the urge to break out the vodka. It was too important to waste on something like this. Instead, she was consoling herself with a bottle of bourbon she had been hiding for emergencies.

This counted as an emergency. Jenny was missing and John was dead.

She wasn't bothering with a glass, choosing to drink straight out the bottle. Getting drunk at this moment in time was not her best option, but she knew that she was going to end up sitting around for a bit longer before launching a rescue operation.

Not too much longer. Just a few days…

She wondered if she should go and find LJ. A few sips of alcohol might improve his mood more than hers.

She was waiting. She'd never liked waiting, preferring to go out and get what she wanted. She could summon the patience for mind games and stakeouts, but not for something like this.

She needed a phone call. One phone call. It didn't even need to last long.

Her eyes closed for a few moments before she refocused on the door. She had locked it when she'd arrived back at the hotel, and wasn't expecting anyone to come after her. Even so, she had a gun in her left hand, the bottle cradled in her right. She would shoot to kill if necessary.

Jenny was fine, of this Lily was certain. Nonetheless, she was nervous. She always had a suspicion that it would come down to this, to how much she trusted him. And she did. The only problem was that she wasn't used to putting her trust in someone else.

It had a habit of backfiring. The CIA had managed to put her on a ventilator by lying about the strength of a bomb. The very agency she worked for had broken her trust. She had consoled herself that her own boss hadn't known; he had threatened a lot of people when she had told him what happened.

Not nearly as many as she had threatened.

She bought the bottle back up to her lips and sipped it again, allowing the amber liquid to burn her throat. She didn't care. When this was over, she knew she would have to spend a few weeks with her son to keep her away from the bottle. Right now, bourbon was the only thing keeping her sane.

Lily jumped at the loud rapping on the door. Deciding not to ignore it, as it could very well be her salvation, she padded silently to the door and peered out the spy hole.

It was LJ.

Cursing inwardly, she called out to him. "Leave me alone."

"Not happening," he yelled back. "You can't handle vodka, and you sound half drunk."

"I'm not drinking the vodka."

"You have five seconds to open the door or I'm getting Ziva to pick the lock."

Choices, choices. He wasn't bluffing and he wasn't likely to give up and go away.

She opened the door a crack, and hid the bottle and gun behind it.

Ziva and McGee were standing behind LJ, who sniffed the air. "You've got bourbon in here?" he asked.

She glared at him. "I thought you'd be getting drunk somewhere."

"I'm out of bourbon. Want company?"

He didn't give her a chance to reply, pushing the door open and entering the room. She debated shooting him, but moved to the dresser and put the gun down.

"Got any glasses?" he queried, looking round.

She handed him the bottle instead. "I want it back," she warned.

"You need to sober up," he told her, putting it carefully down on the floor away from her.

She watched as the others settled at various points in the room. "Why aren't you upset?"

"Because you're right, Jenny's fine. You're the only one who can help us, and you really need to stop drinking."

"I'm going to drink myself into a stupor and sleep it off."

"That your best idea?"

"I could start building a boat in my basement and mess up every relationship I've ever had because I'm a cold-hearted bastard, but that requires a more long-term view."

He chose to stop her before she twisted the screws any more. "Ziva wants to know about the dreams."

She shuffled to her bed and curled up on it. "I want alcohol before I talk."

"Not happening. Either you talk or I talk."

There was no way she would let him tell the story, and he knew it. "When we were kids, Jenny and I used to share a room," she began.

"I would be more surprised if you did not," Ziva interrupted.

"One night, when we were seven years old, we woke up at the same time. Normally when we had nightmares, we would wake the other and up talk about it. We quickly realized that we'd had the same dream. It was very vivid."

She paused for a moment.

"We were in a local church, the same one we went to every week. We were dressed in black and holding hands. We walked up towards the front of the church. People stood in the pews, also dressed in black and crying. When we reached the front, there was a coffin. It was open so we peered inside. Our mother was lying in it."

"A nightmare," Ziva suggested.

"We worked out that it took place in about a year. We went back to sleep and thought nothing of it. Two days later, Mom started to get tired easily, and became very pale. Everyone thought it was just a bug and she'd get over it. It took six months before she finally went to the doctor with aches in her bones, and it turned out she had Acute Myelocytic Leukemia. She died less than a year after our dream."

Lily tried to make a grab for the bourbon bottle. It had taken her years to recover from her mother's death, but she wanted the alcohol for a different reason, and while LJ was distracted…

He cottoned onto her plan before she reached it, moving the bottle further away.

"What you're saying," McGee piped up, "Is that you predicted your mother's death in a dream."

"Yes," she grumbled. "We've shared some since then, and we've learnt to work with them. For example, I can't die until Sydney Opera House is in ruins."

"Very Arthur Dent," he grinned.

"Who is Arthur Dent?" Ziva inquired.

Lily shook her head. She didn't have the patience to deal with this now.

"What matters is that it works," LJ spoke up. "For now, Jen's fine."

* * *

Jenny cracked her eyes open slowly and peered around the room she was in.

First things first. She gave herself a quick health check. She felt groggy, but unharmed. She tried to remember what had happened and recalled a prick in her arm while she was out shopping, followed by… nothing.

Next job. She looked around the room, trying to work out where she was. She was lying flat on her back in the middle of a fluffy king-size bed. The covers were a calming pale blue, and reminded her of a set she used to have at home.

Her father. This was his doing.

The room was almost bare. There were a few boxes in the corner, and the window was barred. The door looked as though it opened outwards.

To sum up, not many opportunities to get out.

She shifted so she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her hand going automatically to her bump. The twins were kicking softly; she felt relieved. At least they were doing fine. So far, anyway.

The door opened suddenly and she whipped her head around.

She had never seen her captor this close before. She had followed him through a park in Moscow once.

The Lone Wolf.

The Russian was carrying a tray and had a smile on his face. "Good evening," he greeted her.

"Stay away from me," she threatened. She didn't have anything to defend herself with, but she wasn't going to give him anything easily.

To her surprise, the Russian's smile grew. He closed the door, before moving to the other side of the bed and depositing the tray. Jenny could see what looked like lasagna on a plate, and a mug of hot chocolate.

"Don't worry," he offered. "The sedative I gave you didn't affect the twins."

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I need to talk to you."

"I'm not going anywhere."

The Russian seemed to consider something for a moment. "I'll give it to you straight, as you Yanks say. I'm engaged to your sister."

Jenny stared at him. There was no way...

"I'm gathering intelligence on various arms deals and I need to maintain my cover."

"Prove it." There was nothing he could say to her that would prove it.

"You and her dreamt that your mother was going to die before she did. You also know that I have to hold a gun to your head soon."

Or maybe there was.

The Lone Wolf continued to watch her face.

"I'm going to kill her," Jenny growled.


	34. Little Red

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I'm going to own up now to the number of chapters in this story: 40. So the end is coming... And I'm never writing anything as long as this again. I was in pieces at the end of this and I'm never going through it again._

_Shameless plug: A Comedy of Errors also has Lily in it, and features her in a little bit of trouble..._

Chapter 34: Little Red

Ziva David was furious. It had been a week since Jenny's disappearance and John's death. The MI6 agent's body had been flown back to London.

Lily had recovered from her temporary blip with the bourbon. She had redoubled her efforts on watching the house she had identified, but seemed strangely calm about the whole thing. Ziva presumed that she believed in the dream absolutely, which meant that Jenny was still fine.

Gibbs was certainly tense. He appeared to be trusting the CIA agent, but Ziva had a feeling that she wasn't telling the whole story and Gibbs knew too. It didn't help that Jenny could theoretically go into labor at any time, without him being present.

McGee had become more nervous over the last week. It was clear that he was worried about Jenny, and being under pressure had never helped his confidence. His little notebook with ideas for his next novel was starting to be used more often.

Privately, Ziva was desperate for action. She wanted to shoot someone or something, do _anything_ to get her friend back. Instead, she was stuck watching a house that now appeared to have movement inside.

The attic window had been boarded up a few days ago. Charlie had reported seeing The Lone Wolf covering the window, holding nails in his mouth. No one had quite figured out what was going on yet.

The only one who seemed completely unaffected by the present tension was Tony. He had continued to flirt with Lily, who was flirting straight back. The previous night, Lily had sat on his lap and he had spent most of the time running his fingers through her hair. Ziva was not sure which one she wanted to kill first.

Today, Gibbs, Lily and herself were heading out to the local market. They had spent a few days arguing about the alcohol supply and finally decided it was time to do something about it.

They had just stepped outside the hotel when a small boy ran up to them. He was wearing a bright red hat; Ziva suspected that he had given Lily the previous postcard.

"Plamennaya malyishka," he greeted Lily, with a beaming smile on his face.

"Hello again," she smiled back at him. "Do you have something for me?"

"Of course, miss." They watched as the boy dug into his pockets, searching for his goods.

Ziva glanced at Gibbs. "Plamennaya malyishka," she repeated softly. "It is Russian for 'little fiery one'. It suits her."

"I speak Russian too," Gibbs reminded her. "Someone more fluent could mean 'little red' as well."

"I did not know that."

"I was married to a redhead at the time. Learnt a few interesting phrases."

"So it is an animal name?"

"Pet," he corrected her. "Pet name."

At last, the boy located what he was looking for. He pressed a very crushed lily into the redhead's hand.

Ziva felt Gibbs tense next to her. She guessed this meant something to him.

"And also for plamennaya malyishka, this." He held a postcard in his hand.

Lily retrieved a few Euro bills from her pocket and traded them. "Thank you," she told him.

The boy scarpered, counting his money.

Lily moved back towards the others, reading the postcard aloud to them.

"Undeva cineva te iubeste, nu uita,  
Spune da, iubita mea, stii cum e cu dragostea.  
Oriunde ai fi, oricat ai sta, te voi astepta.  
Inima spune ea, aicï e casa ta."

"Romanian," Gibbs suggested.

"Of course."

"Translate."

"Somewhere, somebody loves you, don't forget it,  
Say "yes", my love, you know what love is about.  
Wherever you are, no matter for how long, I'll be waiting for you.  
My heart tells me here is your home."

"What does it mean?" Ziva asked.

"It means we're in the right place," Lily concluded.

* * *

A few hours later, Leroy Jethro Gibbs sat in his hotel room, alone.

Lily had offered to switch rooms and sleep on the floor, but he had refused. He wanted Jenny, not the slightly crazy one.

Now, he was glad he'd made that decision.

Lily was absolutely, without a doubt, up to her neck in this.

There was no way that she would have calmed down after Jenny's disappearance without the surefire knowledge that her sister was safe. Not a chance. She should be torturing everyone she could lay her hands on, calling in every favor possible, and threatening all her contacts, slaving away until she could put her own eyes on her sister.

Instead, she was flirting with DiNozzo.

It was all starting to become clear to him. She was the leak. She had told her father when they were coming to Rome, so he'd had time to arrange a drive-by shooting. It explained why no one had been seriously injured. Using her sleight of hand, she'd stolen the tape of the meeting at the Colosseum. After the failed raid in Spain, she had ordered them to stop worrying about the tape. The armed men didn't go after her because she had tipped them off.

The whole time, she'd been stringing them along.

Her reaction to being called to deal with John had been wrong. Presumably, she had been in a meeting, trading information, when she'd had to leave early. She had been adamant that John wasn't leaking because she knew who the real leak was. She'd probably had John killed because she had been unable to frame him for any longer.

Or perhaps because he was in the way.

Jenny was fine, wherever she was, because Lily had arranged her disappearance. Gibbs had been surprised that she hadn't put her sister on the first plane back to Washington when she knew that someone was going to put a gun to Jenny's head. The truth was that she knew Jenny wouldn't be in any danger.

Alternatively, she _could_ have put Jenny on a plane. She could have killed John as a diversion, before having her sister moved to safety somewhere. It would fit alongside some of her previous games.

The trigger for his thoughts had been the crushed lily the young boy had given her. Lily loved lilies; Jenny had once told him that her mother used to give lilies to her sister. They were personal, and someone very personal was giving her those lilies. It had to be her father. Very few people knew about her favorite flower.

The name had also been a clue. 'Plamennaya malyishka'. 'Little red'. It was a nickname, a friendly nickname that implied an affectionate relationship between two people. DiNozzo had mentioned Lily's reaction to the nickname when the boy had used it previously. She recognized it; it meant something to her. He hadn't called her 'Lily', or her real name.

His cell phone rang, jarring him back to reality. He answered it with his usual gruff "Gibbs".

"Boss, Tony here."

"This had better be good, DiNozzo."

"It is, boss. Jasper Shepard just entered the house through the front door. He was kinda sneaky about it too, but it was definitely him."

At last, some good news. "Are you positive?"

"Certain, boss. McGee saw him too."

"Have you called anyone else?"

"Not yet, boss. Want me to inform Lily?"

Perfect. She didn't know. "No. I want her kept in the dark."

"Are you sure? It's her op, her father we're talking about. She has the right to know."

"For now, DiNozzo, she's staying in the dark."

"Fine."

"I want you to get out of the car and get a cab back to the hotel. Sit on her. Ziva, Charlie and I will head out to meet up with McGee."

"Boss?"

"Just do it, DiNozzo!" He disconnected the call before Tony could protest any more.

They had an advantage. And Tony was the perfect distraction.

* * *

McGee sat in the freezing car. Gibbs was next to him, in the driver's seat, while Ziva and Charlie were in the back.

Tony and Lily were back at the hotel. Alone.

It had finally become dark. There was no moon that night, and McGee knew that Gibbs would use it to his advantage. Now they knew that Jasper Shepard was in the house, they could raid it. With a bit of luck, the Director would be inside as well.

At long last, Gibbs pulled out his cell phone and speed-dialed someone.

"DiNozzo. Listen to me, don't say a word."

That didn't make much sense.

"If Lily is _not_ in the room with you, start speaking."

Ah. Gibbs had already earlier told them that he thought Lily was the mole.

"Okay, we are going to raid the house in a few hours. You are to do _whatever it takes_ to prevent Lily from leaving that hotel room. I don't care if you have to tie her to the bed and sit on her. Under no circumstances is Lily to get out of the hotel or make a phone call. If she does, on your head be it."

Gibbs hung up.

"Two hours," he told them.


	35. Seduction

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! More answers ahead; we're back to the prologue... And I swear Tony has never called Lily the right name to her face. Go back and check if you need to. _

Chapter 35: Seduction

Tony DiNozzo closed his cell phone and fought down his panic.

Truth be told, he wasn't sure what the problem was. He was in a hotel room with a very beautiful woman, who he was definitely attracted to, and all he had to do was detain her. They could watch a movie, or play a drinking game, or just curl up and talk.

Or maybe do something more. Who would ever find out?

Apart from Gibbs, who would probably kill him.

And the Director, who would just plain know.

He loved spending time with sexy women, and he had certainly been spending a lot of time with Lily already. There was something about her. He didn't usually go for redheads; their fiery tempers tended to scare him away. But she was different. She was capable and sassy and smart, and a complete pain in the ass to deal with. If she figured out what was going on, no one could save him.

So far, at least, she didn't seem to have a clue as to what was going on.

* * *

Lily stood on the balcony and recalled the dream. John hadn't been in it, and he was now out for the count. Tony had been absent as well, which was presumably why LJ had left him with her. Which meant…

Sneaky LJ.

She knew exactly what he was up to, and it didn't fuss her. She enjoyed wrapping men around her little finger. Now it was time to put her efforts to good use.

Poor Tony. She was actually quite fond of him. If things had been different, she might have allowed herself to get closer to him. But she was unavailable. And she knew from experience that it was good to have a contingency plan.

Plastering a seductive smile on her face, she moved into the room and closed the glass doors behind her.

Showtime.

* * *

Damn it! Why was she looking at him like that?

If she had tried this a few months, or even days ago, he would have leapt at the chance. Anyone would be insane to turn her down. She was smoking hot! It was going to take a lot of willpower to resist this…

He caught sight of a tendril of auburn hair that had worked its way loose. All he wanted to do was tuck it behind her ear. But he couldn't. He knew just how silky smooth her hair was, and he was afraid that he would lose control if he touched it. He clenched his hands into fists in an attempt to stave off the urge.

"Tony?" she inquired softly. "Is something wrong?"

Her voice was like honey, so sweet. It flowed over him like a tranquil mountain stream –

Stop it!

He swallowed hard before replying. "No, Jenny. Everything's fine."

He knew it was Lily, but he still hadn't been able to assign names. She answered to 'Jenny' anyway. What was the harm?

Her smile was going to blind him if he wasn't careful. "Then what's the problem?"

He remembered the last time those words had been used in an entirely different context… or maybe not so different. He forced himself to relax. She was obviously picking up on his nervousness, and it wouldn't help matters. "I'm just… you know… tired."

Rule Seven. He'd forgotten Rule Seven. Always be specific when you lie.

Actually, it might work to his advantage. She knew the rules, and might have been able to detect the lie if he had launched into a detailed explanation.

She moved closer to him, hardly a breath away. Oh, this was torture! She muttered something that he didn't quite catch, focusing instead on her warm breath on his face. If she didn't move soon, he was going to end up kissing her…

* * *

Lily took matters into her own hands and kissed him. _Damn he was good_. She felt his fingers raking through her hair, trying to remove the pins. This could be fun. Expertly, she began to undo his shirt buttons, just as he pushed her away.

_Focus, Lil. Focus._

"We can't do this," he told her, the look on his face saying something very different.

She kissed him again, deeper. He wasn't going to escape now. She removed his shirt and realized just how close he had come to removing hers.

He hit the bed suddenly, and fell backwards in shock. She found herself laughing at his antics. He cut her off when he pulled her onto his lap, and involuntary squeal left her lips before she could censor it.

* * *

Tony forced himself to break away when he needed oxygen in his lungs. "We shouldn't be doing this," he tried.

"We're adults, Tony. We can do what we want."

Try as he might, he couldn't think of a comeback for that. He flipped her onto her back and kissed her stomach. She giggled and tried to squirm away.

"You're ticklish," he noted, surprised.

"You didn't think I could be ticklish?" She looked angry; he didn't want to upset a redhead without due cause.

"Well, no, but I couldn't imagine –"

He stopped when he noticed the smirk on her face. "You… You…" He brushed his lips against hers to make up for his transgression.

She deftly flipped him over. Not good.

"Hang on. Gibbs is going to kill me if he –"

"He's just…," she searched for the word, "overprotective. What he doesn't know won't kill him."

"He'll figure it out." The second he sees the big smirk that I'm not going to be able to wipe off my face.

"I'm not going to tell him." He privately suspected that she would happily tell Gibbs all the details just to annoy him.

"I'm supposed to be protecting you." Lamest excuse he'd ever come up with, but her kisses were stealing brain cells.

"I'm a big girl," she retorted, biting the side of his neck carefully.

That was going to leave a mark…

"Handcuffs?"

"What?!" She couldn't be serious!

"Is that going to be a problem?" she teased, snagging his cuffs from the bedside table.

"Err, no, I can do handcuffs." He tried to flip her and worried when he couldn't. She knowledgeably cuffed him to the bed. Well, Gibbs had told him to tie her to the bed if necessary. If it kept her occupied, he could put up with it.

"Never been cuffed before?" she chuckled.

He gave an experimental tug on his bonds. "I could get used to this," he admitted truthfully.

* * *

Lily decided to repay his previous actions, kissing down to his belly button. She was highly amused to discover that he was as ticklish as she was.

He yelped and apologized, reminding herself about apologies being signs of weakness. She decided to cut short her charade, and hunted for his shirt. Her knife made short work of a sleeve, and she gagged him with it.

Why had she not bothered to pack the ball gag?

The pillowcases went next, binding his feet to the bedposts. She made sure that he knots were tight; she didn't want him getting loose and alerting LJ.

She allowed herself the luxury of surveying her handiwork.

"Tell Gibbs I said hi," she told him, quirking an eyebrow and momentarily allowing her favorite opponent the privilege of using his chosen name.

She watched as he started to panic, realization dawning. Tamping down on her desire to laugh, she made herself more presentable. She kissed his forehead in apology before heading back towards the balcony, leaving LJ a gift on his own bed.

Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed that Tony had finally started to struggle with his bonds. She doubted he'd get free, but she had to applaud the effort.

She looked back over the city again. This time, she was going to end it. Even if it involved putting a bullet through his head.

She swung herself over the side, and shimmied down the drainpipe. He wasn't going to know what hit him.


	36. Dreams to Reality

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I've just finished uploading the final chapters of this to my account - it feels very strange._

Chapter 36: Dreams to Reality

Jenny looked up sharply as The Lone Wolf entered her room again.

The sun had set a few hours ago, not that she could tell easily. Under orders from her father, the window had been boarded up. There was apparently some concern that she could signal the agents on stakeout. She hadn't bothered to try because she knew where she needed to be. That, and they almost definitely knew where she was anyway.

Alex, as he had insisted that she call him, had been spending a lot of time with her. She had begun to see what her sister saw in him. He was witty, charming and handsome. He was also very caring and kind.

Not perhaps the best combination for an arms dealer turned CIA informant.

From what she had managed to gather, he had run into Lily about six years ago. She had persuaded him to pass her information, and eventually to become a fully-fledged mole. He clearly thought the world of her, and she seemed to be fond of him.

Jenny had had the fleeting thought that the romance was an attempt to keep him under her thumb, until Alex had dissuaded her of the notion. She had told him things that the sisters tended not to share with others, such as the dreams. He also knew why she owed Lily an alarm clock, which they had never mentioned to her father and neither of them had told Gibbs.

Alex had been very open with her. He had admitted that there wasn't a mole in the team; Lily hadn't given him anything. He had been sending her postcards with their new location on it every time they moved. The only incident that the pair of them had actually been involved in directly was the meeting at the Colosseum. Lily had stolen the videotape to protect him.

He had told her that there were several very small moles elsewhere feeding Jasper Shepard information. They mainly worked in airports, and were able to tell him where the team were going. Lily had invented the fear of a mole within the team to stop everyone from realizing her connection with The Lone Wolf.

Classic sleight of hand. Everyone looked one way while the real action took place elsewhere.

She moaned in pain as another contraction hit her. They had been coming for the last few hours and were steadily getting worse.

Her father was downstairs. He seemed certain that Lily was about to raid the house, and had decided that Jenny was not to leave. Instead, she was to be used as a hostage.

Jenny had begun to see her father in a new light. Since the mission had started, she had struggled to see him as the 'bad guy', focusing on The Lone Wolf as a substitute. Now, Alex was helping her as much as he could, while her father retained control.

She hoped that Lily would get a move on. Alex had promised to get her to a hospital as soon as this was over. She wanted Jethro by her side, and to kill Lily. The latter would give her a lot of satisfaction. Lily had been lying for so long…

Alex moved over to her side and rubbed her back gently. He was being helpful, but he wasn't who she wanted to have with her right then.

"It will all be worth it," he soothed.

"It's too early; they shouldn't be here yet," she worried.

"Most twins are born early, and they should be fine."

She glared at him.

"Your sister has been researching a lot," he offered. "She wanted me to be prepared for when this happened."

Jenny recalled the dream. The team were coming, and Alex would have to put a gun to her head. She now understood why Lily had been so adamant that he would not pull the trigger.

"It will be easier if you calm down," he warned her.

"Oh, believe me, I _am_ calm."

"Dating Lily, I think I've learnt the difference between calm and hopping mad. The calmer you are, the better we can handle the situation."

"You make that _bastard_ let me go to a hospital and I'll calm down."

Alex sighed. "You are too valuable to him right now. Therefore, you are going nowhere near the hospital until this is over. Your sister is on her way."

"How can you be so sure?" she growled.

"Because she called me from a public telephone box. She is making her way here as fast as she can. Your agents will come in soon; they are currently all waiting in a car out the front."

"All of them?"

"Except Agent DiNozzo. He left before his teammates arrived."

Where was Tony then? He hadn't been visible in the dream. Perhaps Lily had found a way to get him into the room without them noticing.

"Even your precious Gibbs is out there. He looks fine. There is nothing to worry about."

"I'm about to have my babies in an attic room because my maniac father won't let me go to the hospital, and you think I have nothing to worry about?!"

Alex shrugged his shoulders. "It could be worse. I could be refusing to help you, and telling you nothing."

The thought had crossed her mind. Her other thought was that Lily might not have converted him completely; he could be playing her. It would be a mind game worthy of her sister.

And it would take a good adversary to play her at her own game.

She decided to make the most of a bad situation. For now, she would trust him. When her agents showed up, she would leave the decisions to Gibbs.

* * *

An hour later, Alex slipped into his 'ruthless arms dealer' persona, and placed a gun to her head.

She flinched.

"Unfortunately, it is loaded," he told her. "It is in case I need to persuade your agents to not shoot me. I have no intention of shooting you."

It did not make her feel much better, but she knew he was right. If Gibbs tried to tackle him before they managed to give an explanation, he would need a loaded gun for his own defense.

Of course, it could backfire. Gibbs was not going to be happy that she'd had a loaded gun put to her head in the first place. Lily was going to have to do a lot of fast talking.

He wrapped his left arm around the top of her bump to support her. The contractions were coming more quickly, more powerfully. Standing for any length of time was going to be a challenge. She was definitely going to need help to get downstairs.

He carefully led her to the door, and opened it. The wall opposite had not been painted in a long time, and the few remaining flecks of paint were peeling off the walls. Her father plainly wasn't staying here for the décor.

They took the stairs slowly. Jenny clung to the handrail, and Alex didn't rush her. The gun was no longer pressed clear to her skull; he used his right hand to support her better.

The first floor was tastefully decorated. The wooden paneled floor led towards another flight of stairs. The walls had been recently painted a light sky blue, while the few doors leading off it were white. Pictures hung between the doors, never of people, only of landmarks. Jenny recognized the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and the Great Pyramid at Giza. She felt a small stab of pain that there were no pictures of herself or Lily.

Alex let her take the second set of stairs unhurriedly, but this time kept the gun to her head. It wasn't hard to work out why; her father was somewhere down her and it wouldn't be good if he realized what was going on.

The hallway at the bottom of the house was similar to the first one, except the pictures on the wall showed Sydney Opera House, the Statue of Liberty, and the Millennium Dome. Alex pushed her gently past a small table, with a vase of yellow roses on it. Next to it, a framed photo caught her eye.

She knew exactly when it had been taken. One summer, when the sisters were ten, their father had taken them camping. It had been gloriously sunny the whole time. The photo was of the two girls beaming at the camera, heads inclined towards the other. They had both been badly sunburnt, but it had been their favorite vacation.

After that, their father had been too busy to take them away.

Finally, they reached the kitchen at the back of the house. The wall that she had not seen before had a backdoor in it. It was identical to what they had seen. Jasper Shepard sat patiently on a chair in the far corner of the room, waiting.

* * *

They didn't have long to wait. Fifteen minutes later, the front door was kicked open. Gibbs, Ziva, Charlie and McGee entered the room, guns drawn.


	37. Lily's Real Name

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! I promised to reveal Lily's real name before the end of this story, and here goes..._

Chapter 37: Lily's Real Name

Leroy Jethro Gibbs tamped down his panic as he took in the unfolding situation in the kitchen.

The Lone Wolf stood in one corner, a gun to Jenny's head. She was clearly distressed and in pain; her contractions had started. Ideally, she should be in a hospital.

Jasper Shepard was standing in the other corner, directly opposite the team. He also held a gun in his hand, but it was currently resting by his side. He seemed calm and in control.

Now, Gibbs sincerely wished that he had DiNozzo out here. At the moment, he was in a group with three others, all armed, all prepared to shoot. If he'd had one more person at his disposal, he would have sent a few of them round the back. It might have opened up an opportunity.

Lily. This was all Lily's fault. He didn't trust her to stay in the hotel if he ordered her to, so she had to be babysat. If she were in the room, he had a funny feeling that her gun would be pointed at his team.

She was the mole. She had lied to them and played them. He was not going to let her have any say in the final act. Not with the stakes so high.

He looked over at Jenny again. She managed to catch his eye, but he couldn't work out what she was trying to say. All he wanted was to rush to her side and comfort her, but he knew it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

He glared at Jasper Shepard instead.

"Good evening," the elderly man greeted them. "Please, lower your weapons."

The team ignored him.

"If you do not lower your weapons, I will have Alexei put a bullet into your boss' shoulder," he warned.

Gibbs considered. The Lone Wolf was a dangerous man, and would have no qualms about doing it. On the other hand, if they lowered their guns, they would have no leverage themselves. Could he risk it?

He looked into her emerald eyes again. He still couldn't read them, they were too clouded with pain.

"Okay," he spoke aloud. "We're going to put them down slowly."

Jasper Shepard nodded. "No tricks," he ordered.

The men lowered their weapons; Ziva kept hers up.

"And her too," the elderly man motioned.

"Ziva, put it down," Gibbs commanded.

"No," she objected.

"Ziva – "

"No."

"Officer David." The call came from Jenny. "Put the gun down."

The Israeli wavered for a moment, before obeying.

Now they had nothing. Their opponents were armed and had a hostage. A very unwilling one, who urgently needed a hospital, but a hostage nevertheless.

Gibbs began to pray for a miracle.

* * *

Lily watched from the shadows. She was just outside the backdoor, having made good time.

Actually, she had been hiding for the last hour. She couldn't risk entering the property too early, but Alex had given her a hand drawn map and described it in detail. When she had called him earlier, he had carefully disabled the security alarm. Hopefully, Jasper Shepard would believe that the others had done it.

Her plan had been decided just after Jenny had been kidnapped. The kitchen door was the best place to enter the room from, especially as she knew that everyone would be focusing on other things. She was armed, having concealed a gun a block away from the house a month ago. She believed in being prepared.

She had observed Alex bringing Jenny into the kitchen, and withdrew a pin from her hair. She couldn't pick the lock too early, or everyone in the kitchen would hear it. Getting a bullet in her head was not what she wanted while going through the door.

Lily knew that she had to be patient. So far, everything had gone as she knew it would. LJ and his merry little band, including her partner, had entered and been forced to relinquish their weapons. Tony was still out of the way, probably having fun with the restraints. She wished she could be there when someone found him; it would be a wonderful memory to draw on in times of stress.

If everything went to plan, LJ would be the one to discover him. Most likely after Jenny had given birth and she sent him back to the hotel for a change of clothes. Tony would have to wait for a while before anyone entered the room.

She clutched her gun tighter. Jasper Shepard was talking again, and she couldn't make out the words. Glancing down, she double checked that her Ruger GP-100 had six bullets in the chambers, before she began to work on the door.

As usual, she closed her eyes to allow her to focus better on the job at hand. It took her nine seconds to undo the lock. Not her best time, but she had taken a lot longer before.

The door hinges had been oiled by Alex the day before, so she was not worried about any creaks or groans. She pushed it open carefully; any sudden moves right now and he could spot her.

"For the last time, where is Lil?"

Jasper Shepard was demanding to see her. This was too good to pass up. He had spent so long trying to murder his own flesh and blood, and now he would be at her mercy.

"Alexei, shoot her."

Not good. She was barely through the door.

Alex didn't pull the trigger.

Her father did instead.

BANG

* * *

Jenny watched in horror as Alex stepped in front of her and caught the bullet in his shoulder. He slumped to the floor, blood starting to pour from his wound.

He certainly wasn't playing Lily then. Not many people would step in front of a bullet to save their future sister-in-law.

If he survived that long.

She could not reach down to help him, her contractions were too intense. Instead, she caught the edge of the kitchen counter and lowered herself to the floor. Ziva rapidly moved over to her side and tried to help her.

"He's on our side," Jenny whispered. "Help him."

The Israeli looked at her carefully, before grabbing a towel and pressing it firmly against Alex's wound. McGee moved over to help her, picking up his and Ziva's guns as he did so.

"How are you, Director?" he hissed.

"Hospital," she ordered. "Now."

"We can't," he told her, his voice still low.

"Why not?" She felt her blood pressure rising. Why wasn't Gibbs over here, and Lily?

McGee glanced over his shoulder, and she followed his gaze.

Lily was holding Jasper Shepard at gunpoint, pure hatred written all over her face. Gibbs, still unarmed, was trying to edge his way between the two of them, but Jenny knew that Lily would pull the trigger before he got there. Charlie had retrieved his gun and was pointing it at the elderly man.

"I've got him," he warned her. "Put the gun down, Lily."

It took Jenny a moment to realize exactly why her sister was so furious. Her father, the man who had tried to kill her for years, had attempted to shoot her sister and had ended up shooting her fiancé.

A fiancé that the others knew nothing about. As far as they were concerned, a dangerous arms dealer had been shot.

"Lil," she ordered, trying to keep her voice unwavering. "Charlie's got him covered. Put the gun down."

She wasn't sure if Lily could hear her or not.

"Lil, if you put the gun down, Charlie can arrest him and we can get out of here."

Still no response.

Lily was obviously fighting the urge to pull the trigger. She had already depressed it slightly, and was perilously close to firing.

"Lil, I need the hospital. Let's get out of here."

Nothing.

The seconds ticked by.

BANG

Lily fired the gun.

BANG

She pulled the trigger again.

BANG

They were coming one second apart.

BANG

Jasper Shepard was already on the floor.

BANG

Blood was seeping from his head.

BANG

She fired the last of her bullets.

The look on Lily's face shifted. It was no longer murderous. Now, she looked shocked. Jenny knew what she was thinking. '_I just killed him_.'

He was undoubtedly dead. All six shots had entered his skull and there was no way he could have survived. Blood seeped onto the tiled floor.

Lily's hand began to shake.

"Lily," Gibbs started, making sure to keep his voice low. "Drop the gun."

The chamber might be empty, but she might not have realized it. Anguish was starting to become plain on her face.

"Lily," he tried again. "Give me the gun."

She seemed lost in a world of her own. Paralyzed.

"Hey, look at me." He shifted slowly towards her.

"Lilith," a weak voice pleaded. It came from Alex. "Lilith, drop the gun."

Almost involuntarily, her hand opened and she dropped the gun to the floor.

"Horoshaya devochka," he muttered. Jenny didn't speak a word of Russian and had no idea what he had just said.

She was more worried about her sister.


	38. ER

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Time for the babies now!_

Chapter 38: E.R.

Tony DiNozzo sat in the waiting room, on one of the most uncomfortable chairs he had ever encountered. A fortunate arrival of a maid had been his salvation, and he had paid a small fortune to a cab driver to get to the house after the action had finished.

Gibbs and Ziva had taken a car each, with an injured party in each one. Personally, he considered a woman giving birth to be injured, but he wasn't sure that Gibbs would see it the same way.

He had deliberately chosen to go with The Lone Wolf. Gunshot wounds, he could handle. Women who alternated between screaming in pain and threatening to kill his boss, he wasn't prepared to deal with. Especially when they happened to be the boss' boss.

Lily had been the other passenger in the car, riding shotgun with Ziva. Even the crazy driving and the constant cacophony of car horns had not managed to shake her out of her state. She was almost non-responsive, although The Lone Wolf had somehow forced her to mutter some monosyllabic replies.

All in Russian.

At least he had now learnt the words 'da' and 'nyet'.

Her hands had yet to stop shaking. She seemed to be looking at some fixed point in the distance that no one else could see. He had been relieved when he had been able to escape the car.

The team had been surrounded when they arrived at the hospital. Charlie had stayed behind to mind the body, and had taken advantage of the moments he had to call ahead to the hospital, warning of the impending arrivals and passing on crucial details. It had worked perfectly. Jenny had immediately been whisked off to one part of the building while The Lone Wolf had been rushed into surgery.

Before racing off after Jenny, Gibbs had ordered the team to stay with The Lone Wolf. In a way, Tony was glad. He didn't have to sit in a labor ward with horrific screams coming from every direction.

The downside was that the ER was incredibly boring. And the chairs were really uncomfortable.

No one had said anything. Ziva had wandered off in search of coffee, and had kindly bought back three cups. McGee and Tony had taken theirs in silence. Initially, Lily had stayed frozen in place by the vending machine. Eventually, she had seemed to come to, and had been drifting between the ER and the labor ward. Tony doubted that she'd actually seen her sister, but she was clearly a mess.

She reminded him of a little girl, lost and alone. She didn't know what she was supposed to be doing, or where she should be, or who she should ask for instructions. Instead, she haunted the place, lurking in the shadows, staying out of sight.

Part of him wanted to go up to her and comfort her. Another part reminded him that she had tied him to the bed and left him there, and she was still a big bad CIA agent who would shoot him for the hell of it.

He wasn't going to forgive her easily.

* * *

Ziva David stood up as the doctor approached them, thankful that this was one of the times when Lily was present.

This whole night had turned into a nightmare. Lily had been playing them all for fools.

McGee had cornered her when she had gone in search of food, as few hours after the coffee boost. He had explained everything that Jenny had told him about in the car on the way to the hospital. In between contractions, she had had the presence of mind to update Gibbs.

Ziva could not believe that The Lone Wolf had really been helping them all along, and was having serious problems with the thought of him being engaged to Lily. The CIA agent had spent so much time flirting with her partner, and in reality she was with someone else! She had allowed Tony to become attached to her, while she was sneaking away to sleep with her fiancé.

The Israeli was pleased that Tony was glaring at Lily across the room. He had realized what she had been up to. Tony had refused to say why he had not been able to arrive at the house any sooner, which worried Ziva. Why would he not tell them? Was it embarrassing?

She had decided to ask Lily before she had realized that she was not talking to her. Lily was not talking to anyone anyway. Ziva had seen people suffering from shock before, and suspected that a shrink was going to be needed. Patricide was not the easiest thing to overcome.

Not that she had not been tempted sometimes.

McGee had wandered off to the labor ward a short time ago, returning with news that Jenny was requesting her sister. They had been confused; should they tell her or not? Lily was not responding to much, and they doubted she would even hear them. For Jenny's sake, the Israeli had approached Lily and tried to speak to her. It had taken several tries to get through, but Lily had shaken her head firmly and not said a word.

Tony had suggested that they drag her kicking and screaming through the halls to the labor ward, regardless of what she wanted, as she clearly wasn't herself. McGee had pointed out that she had been given the option, and it was her decision to refuse. He also added that she was unlikely to kick and scream, and more likely to allow herself to be led through the corridors.

Ziva agreed more with McGee's thoughts.

The doctor cleared his throat before he spoke. "Mr. Bronstein has come through surgery nicely. He's going to need rehabilitative therapy, but should make a full recovery. He's being moved to a private room now. Would you like to see him? He will be unconscious for a while, until the anesthesia wear off."

Lily seemed to regain awareness slightly. She nodded her head in agreement.

"Okay. Room 1013, just down the hall over there." The doctor pointed.

"Mulţumesc," she mumbled, leaving the rest of the team behind her.

* * *

Timothy McGee was concerned.

While Tony and Ziva had decamped to the labor ward, he had chosen to observe Lily for a short time. He followed her to the room the doctor had told them, and watched as she approached her fiancé.

She had lingered by his side for a few moments before sitting down. Her lips had brushed his forehead before she took his hand in hers and held it. Her eyes had looked him up and down, checking that he had no other injuries that the doctors might have missed.

Lily had still looked tense, but she had certainly calmed down a bit. McGee had watched as she stroked her thumb across the back of his hand, almost oblivious to the machines and the noise.

It was clear that she was not going to head to the labor ward any time soon.

He had left the doorway after a time, when her behavior didn't change. The Lone Wolf had remained unconscious, so McGee had decided that it was time to find the others.

The labor ward was incredibly busy, as he had expected. Doctors, nurses and midwives were running around like headless chickens. This was a place that never slowed down or ran out of things to do. He doubted that they'd ever had a quiet day before.

Tony looked like a fish out of water, having taken a seat just down the hall from Jenny's room. His eyes were alternating between darting around and focusing on the floor in front of him. McGee decided that he looked like an extremely nervous father-to-be.

Ziva seemed to be taking it all in her stride. To be honest, he believed that it would take a lot to faze her. She had taken charge of supplying coffee and chocolate to everyone, to keep them all going.

Charlie had called a short while ago to tell them that Jasper Shepard's dead body had been taken to the local morgue, and it was going to be flown back to the CIA as fast as possible. Apparently the CIA wanted to be one hundred percent sure that he really was dead. McGee had informed him that his partner was not doing so well; Charlie had replied that Lily could get over anything, and giving her space was probably the best idea for now.

Personally, McGee wasn't too sure about that. Her behavior warranted a shock to draw her out. He had briefly wondered if slapping her hard would do the trick, but realized that if it did work, Lily would chase after him with a gun. He was left to ponder other ways to get through to her.

Finally, Gibbs walked out of Jenny's room, a huge beaming smile on his face. It looked very out of place for the gruff ex-marine.

They surrounded him in seconds.

"How is the Director?"

"Names, weights, times, every last detail needed, boss."

"Can we see Jenny?"

Gibbs held up his hands to stall their questions. "Jenny and the babies are doing fine," he told them.

"Gibbs –"

"Twin girls."


	39. Camilla Rose

_Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen! Almost there now... only the epilogue left, and then I can start posting the next story: Identity Crisis, which thankfully is nowhere near as long as this._

Chapter 39: Camilla Rose

The atmosphere on the plane journey back was strange.

On the one hand, one of their number had died. The funeral had already taken place in London, oddly enough on the same day of the raid. John Smith had been buried a hero.

Conversely, they had two new arrivals to greet. Gibbs and Jenny had finally settled on names, Camilla Rose and Rose Camilla. Alternating names, just like the sisters. They had been allowed to leave the hospital the previous day.

They were now two weeks old, and cleared to fly home. Lily had arranged for the private airplane that had originally taken them away to return everyone home. It helped that they were all going to the same place.

Tony sat back in his chair so he could see everyone. Jenny was gently rocking one of the twins in her arms, singing very softly. He was starting to worry about the new arrivals; it was already impossible to tell them apart and he sincerely hoped that they would look very different as they continued to grow.

Jenny had seemed to take to motherhood like a duck to water. She was very affectionate towards her children, and literally dropped everything when they woke up and started crying. She definitely seemed to be putting herself under pressure though, and Tony was concerned about what would happen when she had to deal with the stresses of her job as well as two babies. He hoped that she would be able to strike a balance between being a mother and her career.

Gibbs sat next to her on the same couch, the other twin in his arms. This one was asleep; the boss had already proved to be capable of sending the babies to sleep within seconds. Tony wondered how long it would take Ducky.

Gibbs had been very attentive to Jenny in the last few days. Luckily, the twins were currently sleeping for most of the day, but they didn't stick to a schedule. Not yet anyway. The boss had been helping Jenny as much as he could; Tony personally never wanted to go anywhere near a dirty diaper.

McGee was sitting in a seat, slightly apart from the others, scribbling away in his notebook. Undoubtedly, he would have a lot of things to type up when he got to his trusty typewriter. Tony had a funny feeling that Guinevere Tipford, the Director of the agency, was going to suddenly find herself pregnant in the next Gemcity novel. He wondered if any betting shops would take the wager. He could make a lot of money…

Ziva was fast asleep on another chair. Her legs were tucked under her and her head rested on her palm. She looked a lot younger when she slept. She had spent the last few weeks avoiding Lily like the plague, clearly still annoyed at her for inventing a mole in the group. Her actions had resulted in a constant tension between everyone, and countless arguments. The Israeli had come very close to yelling at Lily on more than one occasion since.

Deep in the back of his mind, he thought that Ziva actually looked quite cute when she slept. He would never dare to tell her though; he had visions of her coming after him with a paperclip. Although, that was another recurring fantasy he had about her…

He clamped down on his bad thoughts. They would be time enough to visualize them later.

Charlie was curled up with a book. Tony had been surprised to discover that he liked trashy romance books, the ones he had decided were written for middle-aged, lonely housewives. Charlie had argued that they gave him a better understanding of what went on in the female mind. And they passed the time very nicely on stakeouts. Charlie was the only one who had finished his report on the entire operation already, with the possible exception of the Probie. Everyone else had been busy with other things.

Lily and The Lone Wolf – _Alex_ – were sitting together, her sitting on his lap. Lily had not strayed far from her fiancé since she had killed her father in cold blood. It had taken three days for her hands to stop shaking, while she continued to retreat into herself. Only Alex had been able to pry a few words out of her, and even then with difficulty.

When they had left the hotel earlier, a car on the street had backfired and Lily had jumped almost a foot. She had been clinging to Alex's arm ever since, obviously in a mess.

Tony was finding it difficult to be sympathetic towards her. She had seduced him before tying him to a bed, for crying out loud! Even so, he knew that she needed a lot of help. She had hardly slept since the shooting, and been beset with nightmares when she did. She had not even spoken a word to her sister, and was shying away from her nieces.

Alex had explained this by pointing out that she was currently considering herself a murderer, and had got it into her head that she could 'contaminate' the twins.

Alex had introduced himself properly when he'd been released from the hospital. Everyone was starting to get used to him, not necessarily acting friendly, but accepting that he was on their side. Even though he was still injured, he had spent all of his time trying to soothe and comfort his fiancée. He had persuaded her to eat something, although she hadn't managed to eat much. In fact, she was almost like putty in his hands, doing whatever he told her to do. Alex was continuing to try to snap her out of her state of mind.

He had also told them that the bio weapon they were supposed to be hunting had in fact been in CIA custody for the last three months. Lily had neglected to tell them because she wanted to continue her pursuit of her father.

Finally, Tony thought about himself. He had refused to speak to Lily, although this wasn't difficult as she made no attempt to communicate with him. He was still fond of her, in a strange way. From what he had gathered, she hadn't pretended to be someone she wasn't, otherwise Charlie would have noticed. She might be a redhead, but she was beautiful, and he liked her personality. The only real fly in the ointment was that she was engaged, and he doubted that she felt the same way about him.

Ziva had stopped giving him a slightly cold shoulder. She had managed to coerce the maid into telling him how she had found him, and spent the last few days teasing him endlessly about it. When he had snapped back at her, she threatened to tie him to a bed and leave him there.

Part of him had liked the idea.

McGee had also discovered what had happened to him, and every time he tried to pick on the younger man, the Probie reminded him that a woman had cuffed him to a bed.

That part was especially infuriating. He would easily envisage the Probie being left in an embarrassing position due to a woman, but himself? Beloved by all women? Able to get any one he wanted? He was nervous about what would happen when the rest of NCIS heard about this, and was busy trying to think up some good revenge pranks. If Lily ever spoke again, he was tempted to ask her to help out.

No one could tell the sisters apart. Except Gibbs, and he had been able to do that before the mission. Still, it had been six months, and when Jenny lost all her pregnancy weight, it was going to get very confusing again.

It could be useful.

The only problem was Lily's current behavior. He didn't think that it would remain that way for long; after all, she was a big bad CIA agent.

Tony had not been prepared for how much he would miss John. It had only been since they completed the mission that he had had time to reflect on the MI6 agent's death. He might have been aggressive in finding their supposed mole, but he had had the best interests of the team at heart. He had loved both his wife and his mistress, being prepared to risk his job to spent time with the latter.

He had stood up steadfastly for what he believed in, confronting people he believed were causing harm. Tony knew that the gift he had received for Christmas from the Brit would be cherished forever. He had already watched it a few times, alone as he had not been able to stop a tear or two from escaping from his eyes.

He had died protecting the Director. Alex had vehemently denied knowing about the car bomb, saying that Jasper Shepard had told him to grab Jenny and nothing else. Everyone believed him.

Tony knew that soon the sisters would have to bury their father again. But this time it was worse. He wasn't dead because he had killed himself. He wasn't being framed. He hadn't even been potentially murdered.

He had been executed by his own daughter.


	40. Epilogue

_So here it is, the final part of Operation Lazarus. (sobs). Thanks to my wonderful beta Kristen, to all my reviewers, and to everyone who has followed this. I promise the next story is a lot shorter than this!_

_Identity Crisis should appear soon, and follows on from Operation Lazarus._

Chapter 40: Epilogue

Ducky sighed as Abigail continued to bounce around the airport terminal.

He was fairly sure that she had had a 'normal' amount of Caf-Pows so far. However, her excitement was mainly due to her desire to see everyone again.

Gibbs had called the previous afternoon and given their arrival time as approximately midday. Ducky had relayed the information to the young Goth, and been forced to watch as she practically climbed up the walls in her enthusiasm.

He doubted that she had managed a wink of sleep since.

They had both gone to work in the morning; Abigail had worked out that they could leave at 11 and still be there in time. He had been barely started an autopsy when she had rushed through the door and requested the bullet.

She had been impossible to work with.

Eventually, 11 o'clock had arrived, and he left the Petty Officer in the capable hands of Mr. Palmer. The music emanating from the lab had been at an intolerable level, and Ducky had been pleased when she had switched it off. Unfortunately, an impossibly tight hug had followed.

Abigail had finally switched off her favorite screensaver picture of the whole team from her computer. Ducky wasn't sure when it had been taken, only appreciating the way the entire team looked hard at work, with the notable exception of Gibbs who was captured head-slapping DiNozzo.

They had deliberately taken separate cars from the motor pool so that they could drop the team back to their own homes before returning to work. Acting Director Wofford had given her permission to their plan.

Now they were waiting in the terminal, and Abigail was becoming more excited by the second. She had constantly asked when the plane was due to land, how long it would take for them to disembark, and how easy it would be for them to claim their luggage and get through customs.

Ducky had admirably controlled his growing frustration, and had passed the time by recalling the days when terminals did not exist and you literally drove up to the runway.

After what seemed like several years, he noticed a flash of red hair and looked over at the gate. The team were back.

* * *

Abby Scuito squealed as she saw them. She ran over as fast as she could, not the easiest job in three-inch platform boots.

"You're back!" she cried, flinging her arms around a startled McGee.

She had missed them a lot. Due to the mission's secrecy, they had not been able to contact her. She had resorted to locating Mop Tony and Ziva again, adding a Mop McGee, and asking Palmer to sneak up on her like Gibbs. Ducky had also bought her regular Caf-Pows.

"You missed Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the New Year, and I had so many parties that you would have _loved_, and I got the new Plastic Death album that you haven't heard yet, and I managed to make a –"

She froze when her eyes found the Director. "Babies!"

Gibbs took half a step in front of Jenny to stop Abby from knocking her over.

"Wake 'em up Abs, and you won't get a Caf-Pow for a week," he warned.

She settled for stroking their little heads. "They're so sweet! What are they called? Can I hold them? When were they born? How much did they weigh? What about –"

Her eyes caught sight of something else. They flicked back and forth for a few moments.

"There's… _two_ of you."

The team looked amused at her reaction.

"_Twins!_"

"Yes, Abby," McGee confirmed.

The other redhead was standing right next to a tall man, who smiled in greeting. "We need to get moving if we are to be at the debriefing in time," he announced.

Charlie nodded. "Bring her and let's go. I don't want to find out the hard way what happens when we're late."

Charlie, the tall man and the other redhead moved away, carrying their suitcases.

"Wow, Director. You never told me you were a twin!" Abby squeaked.

"No tests," she warned. "Lil will probably kill you."

"Oh! Lil! Lovely name!"

"It is short for Lilith," Ziva piped up.

"Even nicer!"

"Abigail, please," Ducky pleaded. "Jethro, where are we taking everyone?"

Gibbs looked at Jenny for a moment.

"I'd better go to Lil's," she confirmed. "She bought a cot the last time she was here, and a ton of baby clothes as well. And someone needs to keep an eye on her."

He nodded. "I've still got the key in my basement. I'll dig it out and swing by later with takeout."

She smiled at him.

"Gibbs," Abby inquired, full of her usual enthusiasm. "When you propose to the Director, can we all be there?"

THE END


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